GLOBAL
Addis Standard. In-depth: Is Ethiopia’s education system under a serious threat? …it is crucial to concentrate on improving the teacher training program at the foundational level. “The government is inadvertently creating a problem; it’s like the cobra effect, where the solution itself becomes a problem. It would be more effective to start from the ground up and focus on enhancing teacher training institutions,” added Eskinder.
International Council on Education for Teaching. WEBINAR: Future proofing education systems: learning from the legacy of the Covid-19 Teachers and teacher educators are invited to take part in this webinar that will focus on the impact of the pandemic on learners’ capabilities and teachers’ learning and sense of Self. It will focus on giving Voice to and documenting teachers’ ideas for improving teaching and learning, and support for teachers, in a post pandemic world. [Wed, 15 Nov 13:00 – 16:00 EST; 18:00 – 21:00 GMT]
Tomorrow People Organization. Welcome to 19th Education and Development Conference EDC2024 covers topics ranging from education technology, teaching and learning, education ethics, curriculum, language and science education as well as case studies from across the globe [March 5th – 7th, 2024 – Bangkok, THAILAND]
UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) In California: Teacher Shortage and Opioid Crisis Bills Become Law Some bills signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom this week impacting K-12 include: * SB 765 (Portantino): Teachers: retired teacher compensation: This law allows California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) members to return to an education position more expeditiously and raises the income cap from 50 percent to 70 percent. * AB 1127 (Reyes): Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program: This bill’s language was incorporated into statute with the Education Trailer Bill (SB 114 [Ch. 48, Stats. 2023]), and it reestablishes the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program, addressing California’s growing need for bilingual teachers in languages such as Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, and Arabic.
2) Inspiring Partnerships: Multimillion-Dollar Global Competition Sparks Learning Innovation Georgia State University is a partner in the initiative which just launched — through November 10… “One of the most exciting things about the Tools Competition is the diversity of teams as well as the diversity of judges, administrators, and researchers who have helped grow the competition,” Shapiro said. “So, the teams, judges, and researchers span academic, industry, and nonprofit sectors, and have expertise ranging from learning analytics, entrepreneurship, teacher education, math education, and computer science.”
3) WEBINAR Shortage to Surplus: 5 Shifts to Address the National Educator Shortage This white paper moves beyond surface-level responses to examine deeper, systemic issues that contribute to mismatches between educator supply and demand. Five comprehensive shifts are presented in contrast to traditional calls to action. A discussion of each shift contains high-level recommendations, along with examples of actions that different stakeholder groups can take to address the educator shortage. [Nov. 9 2-3pm ET]
American Institutes for Research (AIR) & American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Take a Seat at the Table: The Role of Educator Preparation Programs in Teacher Apprenticeship Program Educator preparation programs (EPPs) have an opportunity to strengthen existing district partnerships and lead the way in co-designing teacher Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs), including the launch, operation, and continuous improvement of programs. [WEBINAR on YouTube]
Brookings. 3 myths about teacher agency and why they hold back scaling education innovations Myth 1: Teacher training automatically leads to teacher change A prevalent misconception is that, once trained and with only limited follow-up, educators will automatically translate what they’ve experienced in their training modules into new classroom practices that won’t soon fade or get washed out by the system. However, adult learning, behavior change, and teacher development are complex, iterative processes.
Chalkbeat.
1) Detroit student who fought for ‘right to literacy’ is still in the fight This class action lawsuit wasn’t just for current students. It was for the students before us. And the students after that… We need to use this as a precedent to create a student-to-teacher pipeline that is sustainable.
2) Smaller class sizes in Colorado’s latest draft of universal preschool rules Training requirements for preschool staff are a bit different in the new draft, with employees only required to have completed four hours of training on some topics next year, down from eight in the previous draft rules. The new draft institutes the 8-hour training requirement in either 2025 or 2026 — either the third or fourth year of the program — depending on the training topic.
Education Week.
1) Many States Are Limiting How Schools Can Teach About Race. Most Voters Disagree A strong majority of voters want Black studies curriculum and the history of racism and slavery and its legacy taught in K-12 public schools, according to new polling data from the Black Education Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University… “People really want us to teach the truth, especially the truth in history,” said Sonya Douglass, professor of education leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, and founding director of BERC.
2) Math Teachers and Math Ed. Professors Don’t See Eye to Eye on Best Practices This insistence on fluency with basic operations… one of the several differences of opinion in ideas about best practices and philosophies of math education that surfaced in recent EdWeek Research Center surveys of both K-12 math teachers and postsecondary educators… When college students enter their student teaching placements, they often hear from mentor teachers that the methods they learned in their education programs won’t actually work in the classroom, said Julie Booth, a professor in Temple University’s College of Education…
3) Need Teachers? This State Is Looking to Its High Schoolers West Virginia needs more teachers…The Mountain State is in its second year of implementing a grow-your-own program designed to get more high school students on the path toward becoming a teacher. And although it will take a few more years to see results in the teacher pipeline, the state is seeing a lot of interest from teenagers.
4) Teacher Prep Often Treats Classroom Management as an Afterthought: 5 evidence-based ways to improve new teachers’ skills 1. Understand how students’ personal and cultural needs dictate how a classroom is managed (culture). 2. Implement practical instructional methods to develop preservice teachers in classroom management (methods). 3. Identify practical strategies for preservice teachers to create a safe, supportive classroom environment (practice). 4. Create positive teacher-student, student-student, and teacher-parent relationships (relationships). 5. Respond to student misbehavior in an authentic classroom environment (partnerships).
5) Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff [November 9, 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. ET (11 a.m. – 3 p.m. PT) | FREE EVENT]
6) Why Governors Are Exerting More Control Over Schools The Buckeye State strips the 19-member State Board of Education…limiting the board to decisions on teacher disciplinary and licensure cases… “In the contemporary era of really intense polarization and partisan polarization, it’s seductive for a governor to tap into something that’s got a lot of energy and enthusiasm from some voters,” like education, said Jeffrey Henig, a political science and education professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. “But it’s also a high-risk proposition.”
Fox News.
1) Georgia lawmaker proposes paying teachers $10K to carry guns in school: ‘Better than no options’ Before teachers could carry a firearm, school systems would have to approve a gun-training program under the bill. In addition, it would be up to local school boards to decide if they want their teachers to participate in the program.
2) Pittsburgh public schools approve measure to instruct teachers on ‘White supremacy’ in math classes: The Board voted to shell out $50,000 for the ‘antiracist math’ workshops The Pittsburgh Public Schools Board has voted to hire a consulting group that educates teachers on how to replace “White supremacy culture practices” in math instruction with methods that center on the “wellness of students of color.”
National Center for Grow Your Own. WEBINAR: The Role of State Apprenticeship Agencies with K-12 Teacher Registered Apprenticeships For states, districts, and educator preparation providers looking to launch registered apprenticeship programs for aspiring K-12 teachers, come and learn from state apprenticeship agency directors. [Nov 16, 2023 02:00 PM Eastern Time]
NPR. This teacher shortage solution has gone viral. But does it work? Grow Your Own programs have been celebrated as a way to ease teacher shortages, increase retention, make degrees more accessible and diversify an overwhelmingly white workforce. But researchers say there isn’t much data to show that these programs consistently do any of that.
NYTimes. Ohio Lawsuit Punches Back in Battle Over How to Teach Reading: A nonprofit group is trying to stop a new state law requiring “the science of reading,” underscoring how money and ideology influence the national debate. Reading Recovery is an intervention program aimed at helping first graders in the bottom 20 percent of their class. The nonprofit partners with universities to train teachers and school district leaders in its methods…Ohio State, which is not involved in the lawsuit, said that while the university was home to the training center for school districts, its undergraduate education program does not use Reading Recovery to train its future teachers
Prepared to Teach. Recruitment Campaign Guidance This document is a suggestive guide to help inform how to significantly expand teacher candidate pools, with an express focus on increasing the numbers of aspiring teachers who reflect the backgrounds of the students they serve and who are likely to stay in the profession.
The Education Trust. Tool for Representational Balance in Books … a framework for closely reviewing the books that make up curricular units so they may better understand how people, groups, and topics are represented. We have adapted this tool for general use by anyone, including students, parents, teachers, and community members interested in understanding what representation looks like across materials given to students.
Washington Post.
1) Home schooling’s rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education: A district-by-district look at home schooling’s explosive growth, which a Post analysis finds has far outpaced the rate at private and public schools Celebrated by home education advocates, the rise has also led critics of weak regulation to sound alarms… Many of America’s new home-schooled children have entered a world where no government official will ever check on what, or how well, they are being taught… “Many of these parents don’t have any understanding of education,” she said. “The price will be very big to us, and to society. But that won’t show up for a few years.”
2) Newest way to woo workers: Child care at airports, schools and poultry plants: Businesses are increasingly taking on the national child-care crisis themselves “We’re losing too many educators in America,” said Caire, chief executive of One City Schools. “So few people are coming into this field as it is. And now we’re losing them at the top and in between because of issues like child care… Micron Technology, a semiconductor company based in Boise, Idaho… building an on-site child-care center near an upcoming manufacturing plant in central New York. But first, the company is investing $500,000 to train care providers and early-childhood teachers in the area. By the time the factory opens in three years, the company hopes to have enough teachers in place to provide child care to 9,000 employees.
3) The Post examined home schooling’s surge in the U.S. Here’s what we found. Online classes are now used by nearly 60 percent of home-school families… The Post-Schar School poll, conducted this summer, also found that about half of home-school parents saying their children would receive at least some instruction from a teacher or tutor this year…
NEW YORK STATE
Fox News. New York GOP lawmakers accuse state education board of pushing antisemitic material to kids: NYSED has a history of sharing ‘anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist material,’ according to GOP lawmakers In a letter to Education Department (NYSED) Chancellor Lester Young Jr. and Commissioner Betty Rosa, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., and the GOP delegation from New York called out a video and training materials linked from a government website designed to help educators teach children about the war in Israel following Hamas’ deadly terror attacks.
New York State Association for Teacher Education (NYSATE) & New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NYACTE). Updates from NYSED: Potential Revisions of Teacher Certification Regulations … information on potential revisions to current teacher certification regulations. These include revisions to certification requirements for teaching assistants, classroom teachers, and school and district leaders and changes to transitional certification titles. [via ZOOM: Nov 8, 2023 10:00 AM in Eastern Time]
NYSED Office of Higher Education. Educator Preparation Newsletter, October 2023
1) Board of Regent Items Office of College and University Evaluation Overview and Update
2) New York State Selected for Hunt Institute’s The Path Forward to Transform Literacy Instruction … developing a plan for embedding evidence-based reading instructional practices into teacher preparation programs ensuring that all NY State students learn to read.
3) “Something Terrible Happened To Joey” Childhood Trauma Film Screening Educators can use the Study Guide to think through and discuss difficult issues surrounding trauma.
NYSED Professional Standards and Practices Board. September Meeting Minutes
The New Yorker. The $1.8 Billion Lawsuit Over a Teacher Test: In the nineties, New York began requiring aspiring educators to take an exam. Thousands of people later claimed that the test was racially biased. …in 1991, a new law went into effect that meant that Wilds-Bethea, along with other teachers across the city, had to pass yet another test: the National Teacher Examination, or N.T.E… In 1993, the state began phasing out the N.T.E. and introduced an alternative exam, the Liberal Arts and Science Test, or LAST… New York has cycled through at least four licensure exams since the late nineteen-eighties, always eventually dropping them. But it’s not clear that any of these changes have actually improved students’ education.
NEW YORK CITY
Teachers College Center for Educational Equity. Preparing for Civic Responsibility in Our Digital Age: Guideposts for Educators to Ensure Media Literacy for Every Student When we take seriously the notion that a central purpose of schooling is to prepare future generations to exercise their civic responsibilities, then, in a digital world, media literacy must be a high priority in all schools. We provide this media literacy education outcomes framework as a response to that need.
Teachers College Center on History and Education & The New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools. Celebrating Black & Latina Women’s Educational Activism This new curriculum resource for New York City teachers brings together engaging historical sources with classroom-friendly texts and videos for New York City teachers and their students to learn about how New Yorkers have fought for educational justice and against racism and ableism in our schools. [Monday, November 13 · 4pm EST Smith Learning Theater, Russell Building, 4th Floor, 525 W 120th Street New York, NY 10027]
