GLOBAL
Education International.
1) Ghana: Campaign against privatisation and commercialisation of education The increased teacher training also led to the deployment of over 120,000 more teachers, reducing the student-teacher ratio from 35 to 27 at kindergarten level, from 34 to 26 at primary level and from 16 to 12 in junior high school.
2) Join us! Teach for the Planet at COP27 The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) is taking place in Egypt, from November 6th to the 18th… Governments must finance and implement reforms to include quality climate change education in curricula across subjects and grades, as well as in initial teacher training courses and professional development opportunities.
Education Times. Private education has grown faster in South Asia than any other region, reveals UNESCO report Tertiary education is increasingly private due to insufficient public supply… Teacher training institutions are also often private with teacher education only provided exclusively by the state in two countries, Bhutan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2020, more than 90% of recognised pre-service teacher education institutions in India were privately funded through student fees.
New York Times. How an American Survived Hiding From the Russians in Kherson for 8 Months But for Mr. Morales, 56, a former college professor, the worst was behind him — no more anxious cat-and-mouse games with the Russians. Raised in Banbury, England, he had lived for years in Oklahoma City teaching English literature, and had opened an English-language school in Kherson before the Russian invasion in February.
UNITED STATES
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. AACTE and Education Community Urge Congress to Support EDUCATORS for America Act This legislation would make critical investments in the federal government’s educator preparation programs, including the following: *Authorize $500 million annually to support educator preparation programs and partnerships including: *Update and expand the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program to focus on residency programs, strengthen the principal and school leader preparation programs, and enable partnerships to address the need for early childhood educators, school librarians, counselors, and other specialized support personnel…
American Enterprise Institute. The critical race theory battle takes another turn …a new report published by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education suggests, despite itself, that these laws did not go far enough. The report, titled “The State of Education Censorship in Institutions of Higher Ed and Implications for the Field,” … succeeds in dripping with self-righteous contempt for Republican legislators and the constituents they represent — raising the question of why any conservative policymaker would continue to grant a teacher-training monopoly to institutions captured by ideologues who hate them.
Chalkbeat.
1) Discipline and passion: How Colorado’s Teacher of Year makes magic Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher? When I was studying music as an undergraduate at Tennessee State University, I took some courses that required practicums — we would go to a school and observe a teacher teach their class. These really ignited my passion for teaching instrumental music to middle school and high school students…
2) Teaching ‘world changers:’ Indiana’s 2023 Teacher of the Year applies history to today How and when did you decide to become a teacher? Did you always want to teach in your hometown? I didn’t think about pursuing education as a career until my sophomore year of college. I interned for an awesome eighth grade history teacher and cadet taught for my former first grade teacher during my senior year of high school… People always told me I’d be a good teacher, but I didn’t think teaching was prestigious enough… In college, I had a professor who showed me that teaching could be a calling and a profession full of purpose. That changed my trajectory.
Education Week.
1) ‘Does Anyone Else Cry After Work?’: Teacher Reddit Is the Unfiltered Voice of Educators A study unveiled this month found that the status of the teaching profession is at its lowest in five decades—teachers’ job satisfaction is the lowest its been in recent memory, public perception has soured, and fewer young people are interested in teaching as a career.
2) From Hospice Work to 1st Grade: One Teacher’s Career-Changing Journey Tennessee became the first state to be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor to establish a registered apprenticeship program for teachers. The state now has approved seven teacher-preparation providers to run apprenticeship programs… I started out as a teacher resident going back to school, getting my master’s level classes at Lipscomb. Last year, I taught 1st grade on a job-embedded license, [which allows candidates with at least a bachelor’s degree to work as a teacher while working toward full licensure]. Now that I graduated in the spring and got my degree and my licensure, I’m teaching independently.
3) The Status of the Teaching Profession Is at a 50-Year Low. What Can We Do About It? Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College … “We have a whole bunch of policies that come and go, but are linked by the fact that, ultimately, it’s teachers who are the ones who deliver those policies in classrooms…So, if in fact the working conditions for teachers are declining, so that teachers are becoming not just less happy but less able to do a good job, then that has implications.”
Hechinger Report. In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning: Play supporters point to improved literacy, fewer achievement gaps, and better motor skills for students Before becoming a teacher, Oklahoma state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a Democrat, thought all students were taught lessons through play. “I became a teacher back in 2012 and I realized it’s [play] not even accepted anymore as a way to learn, even in the younger grades,” Rosecrants said. “Some schools do it great, but I’m talking about the way that I learned — going outside, playing, discovering — that type of thing was not something that was focused on in any of the public schools I went to [as a teacher].”
InsideHigherEd.
1) How Colleges Measure and Prove Their Value: With public doubts escalating about whether going to college is “worth it,” campus leaders and policy analysts discuss steps institutions are taking to show how they help students and society. …we’re in a state that ranks 50th out of 50 in teacher pay. We’re going to shut down our teacher education program. It calls on us to think more strategically about the cost of those programs. That is something that NAU and Arizona as a state have been working on for the last several years. We have something called the Arizona Teachers Academy, which will provide students a tuition-free teacher-prep degree, provided they commit to staying in the state and teaching in a school in the state for the same number of years that they get this scholarship.
2) Pressure Builds for Biden to Extend Student Loan Payment Pause: Calls for the extension intensified after a federal appeals court ruled against the administration, dealing another blow to the loan-forgiveness plan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found in an April report that many borrowers would struggle to make payments when the pause ended. That resumption of payments comes as the administration is overhauling debt-relief programs including income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. New regulations aimed at fixing Public Service Loan Forgiveness are going into effect July 1.
KTEN Oklahoma. Oklahoma teacher shortage, low pay linked to test score slump The Oklahoma State School Boards Association reported more than 1,000 educator vacancies, with nearly 3,000 emergency teaching certificates at the beginning of the school year. The Oklahoma Education Association said teacher pay in the Sooner State ranks 34th in the nation. “That just has a residual effect on the number of teachers and programs you have,” said Madill Public Schools Superintendent Larry Case. “Which makes it even worse in today’s climate to where people aren’t going into education.”
NEA News. State Funding for Higher Education Still Lagging A majority of state legislatures spent far less on public colleges and universities in 2020 than they did in 2008, an NEA analysis shows. This means colleges and universities must rely on students to pay the cost of college—and those students are borrowing to do it.
Pearson Education. edTPA® Community Newsletter November
Washington Post.
1) Biden administration asks Supreme Court to reinstate student loan forgiveness program The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit decided 3-0 on Monday to side with a coalition of six Republican-led states that requested that the court table any debt cancellation amid its ongoing litigation. The injunction is to remain in place until further notice from the court or the Supreme Court, according to the order.
2) Virginia is changing the way it teaches history, social studies. Here’s how Differences: The old guidelines call on teachers to dissect, compare and contrast the concepts of “colonialism,” “imperialism,” “nationalism” and “racism.” The new guidelines do not suggest this….
Western Michigan University. Results-oriented academic leader, public policy scholar will lead Western’s academic affairs division Following a nationwide search, Western Michigan University has named Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig as its next Provost and Vice president for Academic Affairs… Vasquez Heilig currently serves about 3,000 students, staff and faculty as dean of the University of Kentucky’s College of Education…prioritized increasing diversity among teachers and recruiting more students to the teacher pipeline amid a growing shortage in the United States.
WMAR Baltimore. Aspiring teachers discuss the difficulties with the certification process “Everyone should want high-quality teachers, but we shouldn’t have barriers to entry that don’t make sense, or to test the wrong thing,” said David Steiner, Professor and Executive Director for Johns Hopkins education policy.
NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Board of Regents. November Meetings
* Higher Education Committee. Proposed Amendment … Relating to the Experience Requirement for Professional School Building Leader Certification …the Department proposes to amend the experience requirements for Professional School Building Leader certification by removing the requirement that at least one of the three years of experience in an educational leadership position be as a school building leader. This proposed amendment will provide school districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) with greater flexibility to assign administrators to the roles and responsibilities that are needed in their local education agencies.
* Consent Agenda P-12 Committee. Amendment…Relating to Universal Prekindergarten Program (UPK) Staffing Qualifications …the proposed rule requires that staff of eligible agencies collaborating with the district to provide Pre-K services have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education or a teaching license or certificate valid for services in the childhood grades. If such staff lack these qualifications, the district must obtain a waiver from the Department as a condition of their employment.
NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. For this Brooklyn teacher, climate education can inspire students to help their communities Slack became a teacher through the New York City Teaching Fellows program after running a nature center in southern Massachusetts, and she has always kept climate education at the forefront of her work.
Gothamist. Bilingual teachers hard to find as thousands of migrant students enter NYC schools …according to the United Federation of Teachers, fewer than 3,000 teachers are certified as bilingual instructors. That’s approximately one educator for 47 students, although these educators are not evenly distributed throughout the school system. There are also 3,455 educators certified to teach English as a New Language (ENL) but they are not necessarily bilingual themselves, and their classes are primarily in English, according to the UFT. Other teachers may be bilingual, but are not certified.
Teachers College. Take Action on Student Loan Forgiveness A recent lawsuit is blocking the President Biden’s debt forgiveness plan which calls for us to take action. The TC Take Action Coalition is convening on November 30th to do just that–we are advocating for a payment pause extension and for the President to use all legal tools available to cancel student debt in light of the recent court decisions. [Wednesday, November 30, 2022 12:00 – 1:00 PM Hybrid/Grace Dodge 197C]