GLOBAL
AP News. Teacher shortages grow worrisome in Poland and Hungary “Young people aren’t coming into the profession, and very few of those who earn a teaching certificate from high school or university go on to teach,” said Nagy. “Even if they do, most of them leave within two years.”
School News Australia. Short versus long-term solutions to the teaching shortage crisis Following the roundtable meeting on August 12 between the federal Education Minister Jason Clare and his state and territory counterparts, a national action plan will be drawn up by December.
The New Arab. Algeria recruits 5,000 new English language teachers for primary schools in shift from French The new teachers, hired during a recruitment drive this summer, would receive training from next week to prepare them for the upcoming academic year… Algeria, a former French colony, has been stepping away from the use of French at its institutions. Algeria’s culture ministry saidearlier this year that Arabic would replace French as its official language.
United Nations. Transforming Education Summit [United Nations, New York, 16, 17 & 19 September 2022]
UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Borrowers Can Refinance Federal Student Loans to Benefit from PSLF …to qualify, borrowers have to refinance their loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan by October 31, 2022. AACTE recently participated in a webinar sponsored by the Department of Education, which explains the temporary changes to the PSLF program that will allow more federal borrowers to have their loans eliminated.
2) Call for Proposals Open: AACTE 75th Annual Meeting [deadline Oct. 1 , 2022]
3) Registration is Now Open: AACTE’s 75th Annual Meeting [Indianapolis, February 24 – 26]
Chalkbeat.
1) Federal grant to help CU Denver expand teacher residency program The University of Colorado Denver will use about $7 million in federal grants over the next five years to expand a teacher preparation model to rural communities across the state…The money from the U.S. Department of Education is part of $25 million five-year Teacher Quality Partnership program grants meant to help recruit, prepare, develop, and retain a strong, effective, and diverse teacher workforce.
2) Two new Chicago efforts to cultivate more diverse teachers land federal grants The district credited Teach Chicago Tomorrow, among other efforts, with increasing the portion of new teacher hires who are Black or Latino to roughly half of all new educators this school year… Chicago’s new Pre-Service Teaching Equity Project, or P-STEP — the CPS program receiving a roughly $1.1 million Teacher Quality Partnership grant — aims to ensure schools work more closely with faculty at local college teacher preparation programs to support student teachers.
Education Week.
1) Districts Steer Federal Teacher-Quality Funding Into Recruitment, Retention The Education Department also announced 22 awards, totaling $24.8 million, through the Teacher Quality Partnership grant program, the only federal program that directly funds teacher preparation programs at universities, states, and nonprofits. This year, the department expressed interest in applicants with “grow your own” programs, which work to bring new educators into the profession by recruiting members of the community.
2) Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff FREE EVENT [Thursday, October 27, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET (11 a.m. – 3 p.m. PT)]
Hechinger Report. Teacher shortages are real, but not for the reason you heard: There’s little evidence of a mass exodus of teachers, but school districts flush with federal money are struggling to hire in a tight labor market The number of unfilled vacancies has led some states and school systems to ease credential requirements, in order to expand the pool of applicants. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters last week that creative approaches are needed to bring in more teachers, such as retired educators, but schools must not lower standards.
Kansas Reflector. Professors frustrated by Emporia State University plans to eliminate tenured faculty and programs The issue that “sticks in the craw” of liberal arts and sciences faculty, Michael Smith said, is their role in supporting ESU’s renowned teaching college…“I can’t train history teachers without a history program. Period,” he said. “I can’t train government teachers without a political science program…”
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English–Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces [by Drs. D. Price-Dennis & Y. Sealey-Ruiz]
New Jersey Monitor.
1) Legislature’s return creates bill signing deadlines for Governor Murphy One Senate bill Murphy must consider by next week would ban the state Board of Education from requiring teaching candidates to complete a test, including the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), to obtain their teaching certificates.
2) Teacher-student diversity gap widens in New Jersey Beginning around 2013, officials adopted several policies that were intended to improve teacher quality — but instead created barriers that barred some from the profession…They raised the grade point average students need, to 3.0, both to get into and to graduate from a college teacher education program. They also expanded how many standardized tests would-be teachers must pass to prove proficiency. One such performance assessment, called the edPTA[sic], has only been required since 2017…
NYTimes. Censorship Is the Refuge of the Weak The state of Oklahoma seeking to revoke the teaching certificate of an English teacher who shared a QR code that directed students to the Brooklyn Public Library’s online collection of banned books.
U. S. Dept. of Education U.S. Department of Education Awards Nearly $25 Million to Recruit, Prepare, Develop and Support a Strong and Diverse Educator Workforce for our Nation’s Schools This year’s investment includes 22 new five-year grants…The TQP program funds teacher preparation programs in high-need communities at colleges and universities for the undergraduate, “fifth-year” level, and for teaching residency programs for individuals new to teaching with strong academic and professional backgrounds.
U.S. News & World Report. 2023 U.S. News Best Colleges 2023 Best Education Schools
Washington Post.
1) U.S. News college rankings draw new complaints and competitors: Education Secretary Miguel Cardona criticizes rankings based on prestige as ‘a joke’
2) Wanted: Teachers. No training necessary. States desperate to fill teaching jobs have relaxed job requirements. Public officials are openly challenging the idea that a degree in education should be a prerequisite for getting into the classroom and are aiming to undo long-standing license rules. Some states now permit people to teach without finishing college in certain cases, and many increasingly rely on substitutes…
NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Meet New York’s teacher of the year: A Harlem chemistry teacher Green became interested in education during childhood, much of which he spent living in poverty, while navigating homeless shelters or squatting in abandoned buildings… Green soon realized he wanted to teach, and he returned to the city, going to work at a school on Rikers Island.
Gothamist. New York approves new private school regulations as yeshivas face mounting scrutiny The new regulations now require teachers to demonstrate competence in the subjects they’re teaching and update requirements for instructional time in core subjects like math and social studies.
NYSED 2023 Teacher of the Year. State Education Department Announces Manhattan High School Chemistry Teacher Named 2023 New York State Teacher of the Year William “Billy” Green will serve as an ambassador for teachers across the state and as the New York State nominee for National Teacher of the Year. Green is a high school chemistry teacher at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in the New York City Department of Education’s (NYCDOE) Geographic District #6 in Manhattan [and Science Education PhD student at Teachers College]
NYSED Board of Regents. September meeting
PROPOSALS
*P-12 Education Committee.
1) Proposed Amendment … Relating to Universal Prekindergarten Program (UPK) Staffing Qualifications the Department proposes to permit agencies to employ an on-site education director who possesses a bachelor’s degree or higher in early childhood education, provided that such individual develops a written plan to obtain a certification valid for service in the early childhood grades within five years of the date such individual begins employment as a site director.
2) Proposed Amendment … Relating to Remote Instruction and its Delivery under Emergency Conditions Finally, the Department proposes additions to section 100.1 of the Commissioner’s regulations to define the term “remote instruction.” This definition identifies various ways in which remote instruction may be delivered—but which must include, in all situations, regular and substantive teacher-student interaction with an appropriately certified (or, for charter schools, qualified) teacher.
* Higher Education Committee. Proposed…Relating to the Degree and Experience Requirements for College Professors for the Transitional G Certificate and Through the Individual Evaluation Pathway to Certification Therefore, the Department proposes to expand the P-12 teaching pool through the following three flexibilities:…
CONSENT AGENDA
*P-12 Education Committee.
1) Addition… Relating to Substantially Equivalent Instruction for Nonpublic School Students As used in this Part: (a) Competent teacher means instructional staff employed by the school who demonstrate the appropriate knowledge, skill, and dispositions to provide substantially equivalent instruction. A competent teacher need not be certified.
* Higher Education Committee
1) Extending Flexibilities for Incidental and Substitute Teaching The Department now proposes to extend these flexibilities for incidental teaching and substitute teaching again to the 2022-2023 school year. This proposal enables school districts to address their continuing teacher shortages by providing them with flexibility in making teaching assignments
2) Establishing the Literacy (All Grades) Certificate the Department revised the required college-supervised practica in registered programs leading to the proposed Literacy (All Grades) certificate to be at least 50 clock hours in teaching literacy to students across the grade range of the student developmental levels of the certificate, including pre-kindergarten through grade 4 and grades 5 through 12… Additionally, the Department revised the date after which it would no longer register programs leading to the current Literacy (Birth-Grade 6) or Literacy (Grades 5- 12) certificates to be on or after October 1, 2022
3) Establishing the Students with Disabilities (All Grades) Certificate, Revising the Registration Requirements for Students with Disabilities (Birth-Grade 2) Programs, and Revising the Requirements for the Extension and Limited Extension to Teach Certain Su… For institutions that currently have registered SWD (Grades 1-6) and SWD (Grades 7-12) programs, the programs would no longer be registered with the Department on or after September 1, 2029… Candidates who begin a proposed SWD (All Grades) program prior to the fall 2023 semester would complete field experiences and student teaching experiences across the age/grade range of the student developmental level of the certificate… The Department proposes to … allow SWD (All Grades) programs to lead to such extension and to reduce the number of semester hours required in the subject area of the extension from 18 to 12…
NYSED Office of Teaching Initiatives.
1) New Literacy (All Grades) Certificate Created. At its September 2022 meeting, the New York State Board of Regents voted to establish the Literacy (All Grades) certificate effective September 28, 2022. The new certificate permits individuals to teach literacy in pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 in New York State public schools.
2) New Students With Disabilities (All Grades) Certificate Created. At its September 2022 meeting, the New York State Board of Regents voted to establish the Students with Disabilities (All Grades) certificate effective September 28, 2022. The new certificate permits individuals to teach students with disabilities in pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 in New York State public schools…
NEW YORK CITY
NY Daily News. New York Board of Regents unanimously passes rules aimed at regulating ultra-Orthodox yeshivas “The state’s confirmation that it intends to dictate the curriculum and faculty at private and parochial schools is deeply disappointing and we oppose it,” said Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, a group that advocates for yeshivas.
NYTimes.
1) In Hasidic Enclaves, Failing Private Schools Flush With Public Money Often, English teachers cannot speak the language fluently themselves. Many earn as little as $15 an hour. Some have been hired off Craigslist or ads on lamp posts…Yeshivas that provide secular education now mostly hire only Hasidic men as teachers, regardless of whether they know English. One former student said he once had a secular teacher who doubled as the school cook… Many young men said their English teachers spoke to them only in Yiddish.
2) New State Rules Offer Road Map for Regulating Private Hasidic Schools: The State Board of Regents on Tuesday enacted regulations aimed at holding New York private schools to minimum academic standards. The New York State Board of Regents on Tuesday voted for the first time to require private schools to prove they are teaching English, math and other basic subjects or risk losing government funding.
