GLOBAL
BBC News.
1) Scottish teacher training numbers increase. The number of people in teacher training in Scotland has gone up for the third year running, according to new figures. There are nearly 4,000 new student teachers in Scotland this year.
2) Teacher training in NI ‘reinforces sectarian divide’. How teachers are trained in Northern Ireland reinforces “educational division and duplication” along sectarian lines. That is argued in a newly published briefing paper from Ulster University’s Unesco centre of education… “There are however indications that the composition of the student bodies at the two University Colleges still strongly reflects the religious divide,” the paper said.
PhysicsWorld. Teacher training scholarships encourage industry professionals into the classroom …the Institute of Physics (IOP), which publishes Physics World, is aiming to encourage talented graduates and postgraduates in physics and engineering disciplines to enter the teaching profession via its Teacher Training Scholarship scheme. Funded by the DfE, the scholarships represent a compelling proposition, headlined by a tax-free financial package that helps would-be teachers transition through their one-year ITT course in England.
The Star. Teacher training programme to be cut short The holiday teacher training programme (Program Diploma Perguuan Malaysia-Kursus Dalam Cuti) is expected to be cut short from 18 months to just 12 months, reported Sin Chew Daily. Chinese Language Council president Datuk Wang Hong Cai said the announcement is expected to be made by the Education Ministry soon.
UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AACTE Sends Policy Priorities to Biden-Harris Education Transition Team
*COVID-19 Relief:
* Executive Actions:
* Longer-term Priorities:
2) Teacher Shortages: Are We Heading in the Right Direction? According to AACTE’s issue brief, the number of institutions awarding degrees in special education and English as a second language increased between 2009-10 and 2018-19. The issue brief also states that while generalist programs in special education remain popular, programs in sub-specialties including early childhood special education, inclusive elementary education (leading to dual certification), and specific categorical concentrations such as autism have gained graduates.
3) UMD Announces A ‘Grow-Your-Own’ Teacher Pipeline The University of Maryland, Prince George’s Community College and Prince George’s County Public Schools announced a dual enrollment program to increase the teaching workforce in the state. The Middle College Program enables high schoolers from county schools to earn an associate of arts degree in teaching while completing their high school requirements. Dual enrollment students can then transfer seamlessly into the UMD College of Education’s undergraduate teaching program
4) Webinar: Leading and Engaging Faculty in Teacher Preparation Reform: The Role of Deans [Dec. 16 12pm EST]
AACTE/SCALE. October/November 2020 Newsletter News From edTPA®
Chalkbeat. Evidence of learning loss is piling up. Here’s how the U.S. could design a tutoring program to help. Using high school and current college students for the tutoring of younger students would keep costs down. Recent college graduates, as full-time AmeriCorps members, would work with high schoolers, and newly hired paraprofessionals would tutor students with significant disabilities.
Education Week.
1) Teacher Tips: Keeping Kids Engaged During Online Math Class
2) Teaching Math Through a Social Justice Lens Andrew Brantlinger considers himself an advocate of social justice instruction, but he’s skeptical that every math topic is a good fit for it. An associate professor of math education at the University of Maryland’s college of education, Brantlinger wrote a 2013 paper detailing his attempts to use the approach with his students…
EdSurge. The Next Frontier of Learning Engineering: AI That Teaches Other AI So researchers hoping to engineer better teaching and learning systems are working to unlock a new level of education efficiency by creating AI tools that make it easier for almost anyone to build an AI tutor.
InsideHigherEd. DeVos Gives Student Loan Borrowers a Brief Reprieve: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s extension of a pause on repaying student loans for another month is welcome news for borrowers, but it could create a mess for Joe Biden. Interest will continue to not accrue on the debt, the department said. Nonpayments will continue to count toward the number of payments required under an income-driven repayment plan, a loan rehabilitation agreement or the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Inside Indiana Business. Ball State Teachers College Receives Largest Ever Gift A Chicago couple has committed a nearly $1.5 million gift to the Teacher’s College at Ball State University. The university says the gift from alumna Michelle Ryan and her husband, Jim, will establish the Michelle and Jim Ryan Family Scholarship, the Ryan Family Navigators Program and the Ryan Fellowship for Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation.
New York Times.
1) Remote Learning Can Bring Bias Into the Home: Experts say unfair treatment and discrimination shouldn’t go unaddressed. Being a Black teacher puts her in a position to empathize with her students of all marginalized backgrounds, she said, but ultimately it comes down to teacher training. “I try to always be aware of my own biases,” she said, noting her degree in social work prepared her to “see both sides and sympathize” with her students better.
2) Student Loan Cancellation Sets Up Clash Between Biden and the Left. A separate program to forgive the debts of those who work in public-service careers has an even grimmer track record,…
3) The Elderly vs. Essential Workers: Who Should Get the Coronavirus Vaccine First? Marc Lipsitch, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, argued that teachers should not be included as essential workers, if a central goal of the committee is to reduce health inequities. “Teachers have middle-class salaries, are very often white, and they have college degrees,” he said.
U.S. Dept of Education, Office of Special Education. The Personnel Who Deliver the Promise of IDEA into the Lives of Children and Families: A Reflection on the 45th Anniversary of IDEA [By J. E. West TC MA Special Education ‘75] Today, we know this investment in a coordinated infrastructure as Personnel Preparation under Part D of IDEA. Every year, the Congress invests millions of dollars in the program and the Office of Special Education Programs diligently manages competitions among special education preparation programs to ensure high quality. In 1970, that program was funded at $36.6 million dollars. Today, it is a $90 million set of competitions.
Wall Street Journal. Education Department Blasts ‘Culture of Censorship’ at Colleges, Sets Up Free-Speech Email Hotline to Report Violations: Officials say sensitivity over potentially offensive views is stifling free speech and academic inquiry Mr. King spoke about pernicious limits on free speech seeping from dorms into classrooms, then on to corporate boardrooms as concerns about political correctness lead to self-censorship. He likened a school district’s antiracism teacher training program on white privilege to “communist style re-education camps.”
NEW YORK STATE
NYSED.
1) COVID-19 Update: First Aid and CPR/AED Certification Additional Flexibility for Coaches
2) Regents Meeting for December 14, 2020
Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching. Meeting Minutes September 2020
NEW YORK CITY
NY Daily News. NYC Education Dept. to begin assigning teachers to jobs focused on creating curriculum for remote teaching Tom Lynch, [TC MA’03 EdD’11] the director of Education Policy at the Center for New York City Affairs, and a former technology official in the Education Department ..said. “Teachers weren’t prepared for any of this at a fundamental level … the city needs a deputy chancellor of digital learning, a senior leader with dual expertise in pedagogy and digital platforms.”
Teachers College.
1) A Tale of Two Teachers: Peace Corps Fellows Program alumni Randy McGinnis and Dichaba McGinty
2) Feeding Minds — and Families: Daniel Zauderer (M.A. ’17): A sixth-grade humanities teacher teams up with a colleague to help Bronx residents Zauderer says that his decision to launch the Mott Haven Fridge grew directly out of his experience in TC’s program in Applied Linguistics & TESOL (the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages). “I chose the program because it had an excellent academic reputation, but it also stressed the importance of a holistic, educational response to the communities we serve,” he says. “The philosophy is that teachers need to step outside the traditional role by becoming stewards in our communities. Or to put it more simply, ‘we need to reach them to teach them’ — and it’s hard to reach your kids if they’re hungry.”
