Month: July 2021

GLOBAL
JapanTimes. Japan may scrap teacher’s license renewal rules.  The education ministry is considering abolishing the requirement that teaching licenses be renewed every 10 years in an effort to ease burdens on teachers… It is considering introducing a new training program for teachers in exchange for scrapping the license renewal rules. The program is expected to cover online teaching, digital textbooks and care for children with developmental disabilities.

Stuff [NZ]. Education Review Office warns of ‘slippage of expectations’ in maths teaching   The Education Review Office says that maths standards at schools are slipping as teachers lack capacity to teach well and modifications to the curriculum are bedding in among educators… They found that graduate teachers were beginning in the classroom while still needing to “substantially develop” their own skills teaching maths.

The Sector [AUS]. Child Care flagged as occupation in national shortage with “strong future demand” expected   As the overview of the report highlights, “This list provides the backbone piece of labour market analysis on occupations that will be a key input to a range of Australian Government policy initiatives, including targeting of skilled migration, apprenticeship incentives and training funding.”

University of Canterbury [NZ]. $10 million boost for literacy education will upskill 70,000 children  Professor McNeill, a leader in UC School of Teacher Education, says the Better Start Literacy Approach is strengths-based and supports teachers to engage in positive ways with children’s whānau… The Better Start Literacy Approach builds on research-based evidence about the most effective methods to teach children letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, oral language, reading and spelling.

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat.
1) Only a third of NJ teachers pass licensing exams the first time around. Does that reflect teacher prep programs?   Nationally, 45% of all aspiring teachers pass on their first attempt, the data shows. But critics of the study argue that focusing on the pass rate on the first attempt is not a valid indicator of the quality of a teacher prep program or a good predictor of classroom performance.
2) Report: More than half of aspiring Colorado elementary teachers fail their licensure exam on the first try; many don’t try again   Colorado will start reporting similar data later this year, part of a new law that aims to identify ways to diversify the teacher workforce. State education officials also plan to pick up work that was derailed by the pandemic: a series of data “deep dives” with the state’s educator preparation programs to better understand gaps and necessary changes.
3) When teaching children how to write, we must also explain why to write: Writing is not just a set of skills to master; it’s a way of acting in the world.   Research suggests that teachers are underprepared to teach writing, and schools do not teach enough writing, particularly digital writing for broad audiences using tools to combine text, images, audio, and video.

Columbia University Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL). Pandemic Learning Reveals the Value of High-Quality Instructional Materials to Educator-Family-Student Partnerships   Lags in teacher preparation programs, and dramatic shifts between old and modern standards, mean most teachers expected to implement high-quality instructional materials were never exposed to them—either as a part of formal training or as K–12 students themselves

Erikson Institute. Mariana Souto-Manning, PhD Named President of Erikson Institute   Dr. Souto-Manning is currently Professor of Early Childhood Education and Teacher Education at Teachers College, Columbia University… She is Vice President-elect for the American Educational Research Association Division K (Teaching and Teacher Education)… Prior to her career in higher education, Souto-Manning was a teacher in public preschools in Brazil and the United States.

InsideHigherEd. Outlawing Best Practices: I train K-12 teachers to use such research-based practices in their classrooms, writes Rosalie Metro, but bans on critical race theory could make this illegal.   Most of my students are white women, as am I. Therefore, I’ve found it especially important to prepare them to serve students who have identities different from their own, as studies show they will be more effective in this role if they actively consider the impact race has on their teaching. Around the country, legislators are proposing bills that could make those practices illegal. 

Learning Policy Institute. Leveraging Recovery Funds to Prioritize Wellness and Accelerate Learning    Through Yakima Valley College, West Valley High School students can participate in a registered apprenticeship and eventually earn an associate’s degree at a 50% discount. When they graduate from high school, the district hires these students as paraeducators, who can then decide to earn their bachelor’s degree as part of a two-year teacher residency model and become fully certified classroom teachers. This approach allows the district to create a “pretty amazing pipeline” for teacher hiring…

NEA News.
1) The Depth of Educators’ College Debt   1. Educators under the age of 35 are more likely to have taken out loans than educators over the age of 61—65 percent compared to 27 percent, NEA researchers found. However, many retired educators are still paying off their college debt. 2. Black educators have significantly more student debt than White educators ($68,000 compared to $54,300, on average). One reason is Black families have less generational wealth… 3. The failure of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program—98 percent of applicants have been rejected—is making matters worse.
2) When Speaking Up for Student Safety Gets You Fired   Jones, a well-respected professor of education at Texas’ Collin College, was effectively fired this spring after speaking up for student and faculty safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and organizing the Collin College chapter of the Texas Faculty Association (TFA), which is affiliated with the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) and NEA.

NYTimes. Pandemic and Racial Injustice Cause Outsize Harm to Black Students, Study Finds: The disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on Black people, coupled with racial trauma from last summer, will make it harder for Black students to return to classrooms, Teachers… Sonya Douglass Horsford, an associate professor of education leadership at Columbia’s Teachers College and an author of the report… The report recommends using funds allocated to schools by the American Rescue Plan — nearly $122 billion — to respond to the academic and mental health needs of Black students. Some of these solutions include simply investing in school infrastructure and hiring more Black teachers to update school curriculums to better understand Black history in the United States.

U.S. Dept. of Education. Request for Information Regarding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program   The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is requesting information in the form of written comments that may include information, research, and suggestions regarding the administration of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program… It is critical for our Nation to maintain a highly educated public service workforce to serve as teachers, nurses, physicians, servicemembers in our military, social workers, legal aid attorneys, and first responders…

New Hampshire Union Leader. Licensing exams trip up teacher candidates, and failure pushes many out of the field, report shows   Statewide, about 43% of elementary school teacher candidates passed what is typically the toughest exam — social studies — on the first try, according to data released this week by the National Council on Teacher Quality. The data showed wide disparities in test performance between students from different colleges and highlighted how dozens of trained candidates walk away from teaching after failing the exam once.

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Professional Standards and Practices Board.  April 2021 Meeting Minutes

NYTimes. 40 Educators Join The New York Times Teaching Project: Representing 19 states and a range of subjects across the curriculum, these talented teachers will bring the mission of The Times to their schools for the 2021-22 school year.  Incl. Yumiko Bendlin (TC EdM TESOL ’97) Rye Middle and High School, Rye, N.Y.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. 72 NYC schools are getting money to lower class sizes. Will it help students?   The City Council, seizing on billions of federal relief dollars available for K-12 city schools, wanted officials to spend $250 million to lower class sizes by hiring 2,500 new teachers. Instead, the administration announced the pilot program for a fraction of the proposed cost. The initiative could bring just over 140 new teachers to the pilot schools, unless principals decide to hire part-time staffers.

Teachers College. A Tech Star’s Unusual Ascent: For doctoral student Yvonne Thevenot (M.Ed. ’20), it all gets back to being a concerned school parent   “After what happened with my son, I wanted to understand more about how teachers are trained.” She’s drawn particular inspiration from culturally responsive teaching pioneers Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education, and Felicia Mensah, Professor of Science Education, whose work stands in sharp contrast to the approach of her son’s fourth-grade teacher.

GLOBAL
Education International. Iraq: Social dialogue leads to a roadmap for quality education.  During their meeting with the Education Minister of the Iraqi region of Kurdistan, leaders the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union (KTU) were able to address several crucial educational issues… *Training teachers and developing their capacities to use new teaching methods and techniques…

Schools Week [UK]. ITT reform ‘hugely risky’ to teacher supply and quality, warns government’s own adviser   Professor Sam Twiselton, a member of the advisory group set up to contribute to the review, also told Schools Week the “risk to school engagement is a particular concern”. She appears to back delaying implementation for an extra year so issues are “properly worked through and sensible solutions found”. Leading universities have also rebelled against the plans.

Sydney Morning Herald. NSW schools struggle to find teachers as supply collapses   A federal discussion paper on university teacher training, released at the weekend, found almost 50 per cent of trainee teachers nationally failed to complete their degrees.

UK Department of Education. Initial teacher training (ITT) market review report   The aim of the review is to enable the provision of consistently high quality training, in line with the ITT core content framework (CCF), in an effective and efficient market.

University of Cambridge.  Statement on the UK Government Initial Teacher Training (ITT) market review report: The University of Cambridge prepares around 300 new teachers to enter the profession every year, many in priority subject areas such as STEM disciplines.   The University cannot in all good faith accept or offer aspiring teachers a programme that would lower standards in this way. Now, more than ever, children need teachers of the highest possible quality. These recommendations would compromise the essential characteristics of programmes such as ours, which are already producing outstanding teachers, year after year.

UNITED STATES
Associated Press (AP).  Biden says teachers deserve ‘a raise, not just praise’    And he pitched further investments for teachers, including a proposal to double the amount of a federal grant for aspiring teachers and to boost career training for current teachers.

Deans for Impact. How American University redesigned teacher preparation [YouTube Video]  American University is one of 10 programs participating in DFI’s Learning by Scientific Design Network. For the last two years, Dr. Traci Dennis and colleagues have helped future teachers understand the science of how students learn and what the implications are for their teaching practice…

Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Diversity in the Classroom: Why Representation Matters.  … before teachers of color enter the field full-time, educator preparation programs can support the retention of candidates of color through the establishment of affinity groups, supportive clinical field experiences, and residency models that include partnerships between the preparation program and the district.

EducationWeek.
1) Live Online Talk Show.  Critical Race Theory: Understanding the Debate [July 13, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time]
2) Science Teaching and Learning Found to Fall Off in Pandemic   “The current emphasis on content dimensions of the current standards that we have, along with how we’re thinking about teacher education, teacher preparation, in-service education, makes it really challenging to pivot when we get to moments like this when we as a field really do need to pivot and adjust to this international crisis,”
3) Teachers’ Unions Vow to Defend Members in Critical Race Theory Fight   … at the NEA’s representative assembly, held virtually last week, union delegates passed several measures that explicitly support the use of critical race theory in curriculum and allocated tens of thousands of dollars to those efforts.

InsideHigherEd.
1) Controversial Student Visa Rule Withdrawn   The Biden administration formally withdrew a rule proposed by the Trump administration that would have required international students to reapply for student visas after fixed terms of up to four years.
2) Regulatory Changes to TEACH Grant Program Take Effect   The Department of Education has implemented changes to the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant program in an effort to provide greater flexibility and alleviate challenges that previous grant recipients have had in navigating the program. In exchange for grant funding of up to $4,000 a year for students to complete teacher education coursework, recipients of the TEACH Grant must complete four years of teaching in a high-need field and underserved school within an eight-year period or their grants will be converted into direct unsubsidized loans. 

LPI. Supporting the Educator Pipeline: How States and Districts Can Use Federal Recovery Funds Strategically   Strong educator preparation is critically important to support improved teacher effectiveness and retention and improved student achievement. State and LEA investments in comprehensive educator preparation are allowable through multiple routes.

WashingtonPost.
1) How and why Loudoun County became the face of the nation’s culture wars   Prior, a former Trump administration official, has appeared on Fox to discuss Loudoun and critical race theory, and won a reputation as the face of the county’s movement against critical race theory… Prior said his group is also broadly opposed to the implementation of critical race theory in teacher trainings and the classroom.
2) One of the nation’s largest student loan servicers plans to cut ties with the Education Department: PHEAA’s decision comes as the federal agency seeks to revamp its system for collecting student loans    A group of teachers also sued PHEEA over its management of the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant, a federal program that provides money to students willing to work in high-needs schools or teach high-needs subjects for four years. The educators claimed the servicer converted their grants to loans in error and refused to right the wrong. Other teachers complained of having their grants converted as a result of paperwork snags, missed certification deadlines or receiving incorrect information from FedLoan.

NEW YORK STATE
Troy Record. Local teacher prep program creates first-of-its-kind apprenticeship.  New Yorkers will now have the opportunity to enter the profession through a new apprenticeship approach to initial state teacher certification… Under the first ever New York State Apprenticeship program for teacher preparation through the state Department of Labor, SUNY students will now be eligible for $5,000 in SUNY tuition assistance in addition to the $22,000 per year living stipend they already receive through the BOCES. 

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. Eric Adams is New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate. Here are major education issues he could face.   The focus on COVID-19’s toll has drawn attention away from a problem that has long confounded New York City mayors: how to improve the city’s lowest-performing schools. Struggling campuses often suffer from structural inequities ranging from academic and racial segregation to teacher recruitment and retention. Adams has said he is committed to hiring more bilingual educators and aides, particularly for the roughly 4,000 students who require bilingual special education. 

NYDailyNews. What does Eric Adams want to do as mayor? Read his policy book   In education, his big new idea is “moving to a full-year school year.” You can’t have a full-year school year without thousands more teachers or other child-care professionals willing to work through the summer months. 

GLOBAL
Education International. Investing in the teaching profession is fundamental for a post-pandemic recovery: achieving sustainable development goal 4   A proper strategy for education recovery should include addressing recruitment and retention of teachers and education support personnel, as well as teacher wellbeing and work-life balance, which have both suffered during the pandemic.

Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report. A new generation: 25 years of efforts for gender equality in education   Gender inequality exists in teacher recruitment and promotion to leadership, and more gender-sensitive teacher education is needed. 

Hello Magazine. The Queen and Princess Anne enjoy mother-daughter outing in Scotland   Over 20 local schools have access to the wood for outdoor lessons, and the Wood Project works with local universities to carry out research and support this form of learning as part of teacher training.

Indian Express. To transform learning, assessment, trust teachers and schools   … our long-term goals of internal assessments, teacher training, online and offline bridging, investing in technological pathways for student access, should be initiated with immediate effect… The board has done remarkable teacher training in a variety of areas during the pandemic. Aspects of assessment can be included in these training models.

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat.
1) 10 Tennessee education laws, on topics from Common Core to vaccination, taking effect July 1   Tennessee is providing new flexibility to school districts to help existing teachers gain new endorsements without having to re-enroll in traditional teacher training programs… The legislation requires the state Board of Education to create an alternative way for teachers to receive training and earn extra endorsements as part of their certification
2) CU Denver will spearhead group to reform early childhood teacher preparation   The University of Colorado Denver is launching a statewide effort to make it easier for new and existing early childhood teachers to earn college degrees. The university won a $2.3 million grant from a funders group called the Early Educator Investment Collaborative to bring together a coalition of university, community college, and state leaders over the next two and a half years. 
3) Philadelphia school renamed for Fanny Jackson Coppin, former enslaved woman and educator: The elementary school had been named for Andrew Jackson, a slave owner and the country’s seventh president.   As a teenager, she supported herself after relocating to Newport, Rhode Island, and graduated from the Rhode Island State Normal School before attending Oberlin College in Ohio where she organized evening classes to teach freedmen. In 1865, she became the second Black woman to graduate from the college.
4) ‘The single most important task we have’: Chicago previews plan to reconnect with missing students   The targeted student supports will include: a new CPS Tutor Corps, an initiative to hire and train 850 staffers to provide intensive one-on-one tutoring in math and reading…

EdWeek.
1) Education Department Overhauls Beleaguered Teacher Grant Program: Biden proposes doubling annual TEACH grants to $8,000   Now, the U.S. Department of Education is making changes to its Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education, or TEACH, grant program to reduce the chances that a teacher’s grant will be converted into a direct unsubsidized loan. A government report found that more than 60 percent of teachers who received a TEACH grant prior to July 2014 were forced to repay the money as a loan, even though many had completed the program’s teaching requirements.
2) The Complicated, Divisive Work of Grading Teacher-Preparation Programs: CAEP and AAQEP Offer Differing Routes for Proving Effectiveness.  One of the more under-the-radar areas of teacher education is also one of the most divisive: accreditation. And as the field continues to evolve, the debate over how best to determine the success and quality of the programs tasked with producing classroom-ready teachers remains far from settled.

ETS. Monitoring Civic Learning Opportunities and Outcomes: State of the Field and Future Directions.  [July 13th 12:00-5:00 PM ET]

LPI. Adequate and Equitable Education in High-Poverty Schools: Barriers and Opportunities in North Carolina   Carolina’s high-poverty schools have fewer licensed teachers, fewer with advanced degrees, and fewer with National Board Certification. They also have more lateral entry teachers (i.e., those without full certification) and nearly twice as many beginning teachers (0–3 years’ experience), who make up almost 30% of the teachers at high-poverty schools.

TimesUnion. 4 ways to get more Black and Latino teachers in K-12 public schools [by T. Bristol TC PhD ‘14]  The U.S. has a wide variety of teacher preparation programs. There’s no common framework for thinking about how to prepare people to become teachers. Furthermore, in states like California and Texas, after two months of preparation a new teacher can teach children in historically marginalized communities… Placing the most inexperienced teachers in schools with the most challenging working conditions increases turnover.

US News & World Report. How to Become a Licensed or Certified Teacher: Teaching jobs typically require completion of a state-recognized teacher education program   Karen Aronian, a New York education expert who earned an education doctorate at Columbia University’s Teachers College [EdD ’15] in New York City.. “Teaching is a great foundational profession,” Aronian says, adding that one great way for someone to determine whether a job as a teacher would be enjoyable is to volunteer with children and gauge how the experience feels.

Washington Post. How clueless principals and superintendents ruin great schools   “Districts will often assign their newest and least experienced principals to their highest-need schools, which is basically a recipe for disaster… Even if the principal is ready to take on the challenge — a big if — they don’t have the connections and influence their more experienced colleagues do. And so, they often get last dibs on teacher candidates and are saddled with the teachers and staff members their more connected principals have eased out of their schools.”

WHYY. Philly’s prodigal son: The making — and near breaking — of a Black male teacher   …research shows that certification processes built around college GPA, postgraduate courses, and licensing exams disproportionately weed out prospective teachers of color. Kane’s ideal licensure system would look more like the college tenure process — where final judgment happens after candidates spend some time on the job. Of course, that would require a standardized metric based on student test scores or administrative observation. And that comes with hang-ups, chief among them the fact that “there are all sorts of reasons why kids might not learn that don’t have to do with the teacher,” said Robert Floden, dean of Michigan State University’s College of Education.

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Office of Higher Education.
1) Educator Preparation Program Clinical Experience Flexibilities for the 2021-2022 Academic Year   ….the Department will continue permitting some flexibility regarding the use of alternative models of clinical experiences for EPPs during the 2021-2022 academic year, as described below…
2) Educator Preparation Newsletter June 2021
* Board Of Regents June Items: Statewide Plan; DASA Training; New Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education Policy Dr. Jim Baldwin
* Clinical Experience Flexibilities for The 2021-2022 Academic Year
* edTPA Webinars
* Clinical Experience Flexibilities for The 2021-2022 Academic Year
* College Recommendations For Certification In Teach …educator preparation programs may not require candidates to complete certification requirements, in addition to program requirements, as a condition of the college recommendation for certification unless the certification requirements were included in the program requirements when the program was registered by the Department.
* U.S. Department of Education Covid-19 Reopening Handbook

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat.
1) Despite loss and loneliness, the year was anything but ‘lost’ this NYC math teacher says   Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?  I worked at an educational non-profit while I was in college and loved the experience, but never thought about actually becoming a teacher until I started working full time… I wanted to do something impactful for my community, I’d always adored my teachers and loved school, and I’ve always found kids hilarious and cute, so I joined the New York Teaching Fellows.
2) NYC moves to clear controversial Absent Teacher Reserve, but it’s probably here to stay   There are other reasons why the pool may not go away. Some teachers who end up in the ATR may simply not have the credentials necessary for open positions — though the union says that “except for a very few licenses, there are usually vacancies in the district, especially early in the hiring process.”
3) This NYC teacher scrolls with care and reminds students that empathy is a ‘radical’ act [Islah Tauheed  TC MA’16]   What led you to a career in education?  I truly believe I was born to teach. My mother was a special education teacher. Other kids would skip school to go to the mall. I would skip and come to my mother’s class… A career in education also continues the legacy of my grandparents, who were denied access to equal education.

Pix11. NYC could face teacher shortage in the fall: UFT president   The Department of Education also said that its received 900 new teaching fellow trainees for next year, up from 75 last year; plus 300 paraprofessionals training to be teachers, up from 25; and its made a total of 1,250 new hires for some of the students with the greatest educational needs.

Teachers College.
1) Office of Accreditation and Assessment: The educator preparation programs have been awarded full accreditation by AAQEP (Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation) through June 30, 2028. Full accreditation acknowledges that a program prepares effective educators who continue to grow as professionals and has demonstrated the commitment and capacity to maintain quality. [TC is among 3 IHEs to receive special commendation of 38 accredited nationally]
2) Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC). 2012-2020 Production Report  20 peer-reviewed publications, 57 global conference presentations and counting…