GLOBAL
ChinaDaily. Ministry pushes to get more talented teachers in rural areas Ren Youqun, director of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Teacher Education, said teacher training universities will continue to cultivate around 10,000 graduates every year to teach at once-impoverished counties and border counties in central and western regions.
Modern Ghana. Rethink payment of teacher training allowance The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch has called on government to rethink the payment of allowances to teacher trainees in the colleges of education. According to the Executive Director, the payment of such allowances has never been a motivation for teachers to accept postings to the deprived areas of the country.
The Guardian. The Ukrainians teaching in a war zone: bombed-out schools, evacuations and board games Since Russia’s invasion began, Teach for Ukraine has held workshops with psychologists to equip its teachers with techniques to support students during the war. Most are first-time educators and have been in constant contact, supporting and inspiring one another.
UNITED STATES
Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). CFP 2023 AAQEP Quality Assurance Symposium February 22-23, 2023 Indianapolis, IN [deadline Aug. 1]
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). 2022 National Teacher of The Year Kurt Russell A 25-year veteran of the classroom, Kurt Russell was first inspired to become a teacher in middle school, when he encountered his first Black male teacher…Kurt teaches history at Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio, where he was born and raised… holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in history and a minor in Black studies from the College of Wooster and a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction from Ashland University.
Dallas Morning News.
1) 6 things to know about Texas’ ‘wild west’ teacher preparation landscape amid a shortage crisis: Texas teachers can learn their trade through a vast variety of programs. The majority of Texas teachers come from alternative certification programs… Alternative teacher preparation programs have not solved the teacher shortage in the decades they’ve been operating… Teachers coming from for-profit teacher preparation programs leave the classroom at a higher rate.
2) Too big to fail? Texas’ largest teacher prep program riddled with problems, state finds: The company didn’t support candidates with mentors and failed to demonstrate its training was based in research. The largest teacher preparation program in Texas — enrolling nearly 70,000 would-be educators last year — is not making the grade, according to state regulators… Texas’ for-profit alternative programs, part of a sprawling system that experts describe as the “wild west of teacher certification.”
Education Week.
1) The ‘Science of Reading’ and English-Language Learners: What the Research Says States that have recently passed laws aiming to improve reading instruction have mandated that teachers be trained in delivering this kind of foundational skills instruction, or that schools use materials and assessments that support it.
2) What Is Culturally Responsive Teaching? Most teacher-preparation programs have also incorporated culturally responsive teaching into their courses. And some school districts, including New York City and Baltimore City, have adopted a culturally responsive and/or sustaining approach to education.
3) What the ‘Science of Reading’ Should Look Like for English-Learners. It’s Not Settled Over the past few years, some states have spent millions of dollars and passed new laws in an attempt to shift the way that schools teach kids how to read. These efforts take aim at commonly used ineffective literacy practices and programs, often focusing on teacher training… They’ve clashed with advocates of balanced literacy, the instructional philosophy that’s most commonly taught in teacher preparation programs and held by the majority of early grades educators.
Hechinger Report.
1) A call to service: Our schools need you to step up The National Partnership for Student Success, a new public-private partnership just getting underway in response to President Biden’s call to service, plans to provide training and technical assistance, as well as strategy support, to schools and districts in five key roles: as mentors, tutors, student success coaches, post-secondary transition coaches and wraparound support site coordinators.
2) Middle school science teachers often have shaky scientific knowledge: The widely adopted Next Generation Science Standards raise the bar on what middle school students should know and be able to do. Are there enough well-trained teachers to help students? Only 7 percent reported feeling “very well prepared” to teach lessons about modern physics, 19 percent about electricity and magnetism and 21 percent about the properties and behaviors of waves, a 2018 National Science Foundation-supported survey found. More than half the teachers said they felt “very well prepared” to teach only three topics – the structures and functions of organisms, ecology/ecosystems and states, classes and properties of matter.
3) Simulating student mental health for teachers: Can virtual role-playing train teachers how to handle student mental health crises? When the pandemic hit, Albright and the other researchers continued to gather data. They found that the educators who received the training, which is offered completely online, were able to apply what they’d learned in the virtual simulation to the remote learning environment…
4) States stuck trying to fix early ed pay as feds drop the ball: With federal child care help stalled, states are trying to raise wages and stabilize the industry on their own Educators in Hawaii’s teacher prep programs say the multi-faceted approach of addressing compensation, retention and retention is necessary to boost the industry. “For decades, training and compensation for the early care and education workforce in Hawai’i have been sorely neglected,” said Theresa Lock, an elementary instructor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Education…
InsideHigherEd. More Changes in Loan Programs: Education Department plans to forgive 40,000 student loans immediately and to place 3.6 million borrowers three years closer to debt forgiveness. After the changes are made, 40,000 borrowers will have their debts forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
NEA News. Students of Color with Disabilities Face Deep Inequities Made Worse by Pandemic: New study warns of growing crisis that requires commitment to funding and a race-conscious response. NEA locals have been heavily involved in advocating for how ARP funds should be used, and have worked hard to focus on improving racial equity, add social-emotional supports, and address educator shortages among many other local issues.
NPR. Students with disabilities have a right to qualified teachers — but there’s a shortage Because when turnover rates are so high, schools and districts they’re just trying to fill those positions with whomever they can find, often teachers who are not fully prepared,” Carver-Thomas says. Hiring unprepared teachers can also contribute to high turnover rates, according to Carver-Thomas’ research. And it can impact student outcomes.
The Hill. Here’s what’s driving the nationwide teacher shortage: The staffing crisis has permeated all levels of the profession, creating vacancies in nearly all capacities. The current staffing crisis is compounded by a massive decline in undergraduate degrees in teacher education programs, low pay, expanded opportunities for women and lack of teaching degrees in STEM fields.
U.S. Dept. of Education.
1) Department of Education Announces Actions to Fix Longstanding Failures in the Student Loan Programs Federal Student Aid (FSA) estimates that these changes will result in immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.
2) Education Department Continues Push to Invest in Highly Effective Educators and Address Teacher Shortage The SEED program fosters the use of rigorous evidence-based practices in selecting and implementing strategies and interventions that support educators’ development across the continuum of their careers. Support for educator preparation programs and high-quality professional development are vital to ensure that all students have access to well-prepared and qualified teachers, principals, and other school leaders.
3) Strengthening Partnerships Between States, School Districts, and Higher Education to Increase the Number of Teacher Candidates Prepared to Enter the Classroom and Provide Immediate Support to Schools [slide deck from April 7th presentation]
NEW YORK STATE
DemocracyReady NY. The Importance Of Discussing Controversial Issues In The Classroom—Especially Today: A White Paper on Policy Supports for New York Teachers Recent research has revealed many, if not most, teachers feel unprepared and systematically unsupported in dealing with controversial issues…
Syracuse University. Bringing Science Back Home: Ph.D. Candidate Tiffany Hamm Works to Expand STEM Access How can Black women and those from underrepresented groups be recruited, mentored and retained in STEM fields? I think it all boils down to making the sciences accessible and tangible for different minds. Initially, it was rare that we saw Black people—Black women—in science. While I was a teacher, I made intentional efforts to use slides to bring in Black scientists and highlight their contributions.
NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. Advocates seek more school programming for NYC’s newcomer immigrants. The pilot program’s effectiveness will rely not just on the hiring of more ENL teachers, but also how well other subject area teachers are trained in serving English learners, said Sebastian Cherng, an associate professor of international education at New York University who has studied the city’s English learners.
Teachers College. Leading with Evidence in Schools: Data and Research Literacy Online asynchronous course July 5, 2022 – July 31, 2022 taught by TC Prof. A. Bowers … for teachers and school leaders looking for a bridge between their undergraduate or graduate education and additional advanced degrees, this course can provide a bridge for students looking to deepen their practice in evidence use as they prepare to apply to a graduate school program, with a special emphasis on work in the United States.
