GLOBAL
AACTE. Webinar: Award-Winning Best Practices in Globalizing Teacher Education [Thurs. Aug. 25, 2:00 – 3:00 P.M. E.T.]
Finland Fulbright Foundation. [by S. Abrams, Director, TC’s National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education] Workforce Development in Finland and in The U.S. The world has as much to learn from Finland’s robust vocational system as it does from the country’s progressive pedagogical philosophy and rigorous approach to teacher preparation.
UNESCO. Global education monitoring report, 2023: technology in education: a tool on whose terms? …content development costs, including teacher preparation, account for 60% of the total capital cost in upper-middle-income and almost 90% in high-income countries.
UNITED STATES
AACTE. AACTE Awards, Call for Entries. The AACTE Awards Program recognizes excellence in both member institutions and individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of educator preparation. [submissions due Sept. 1]
Association of Teacher Educators. 2024 Annual Meeting Call for Proposals: Deadline Sept. 18 [March 27 – 30, Anaheim Marriott Hotel]
Chalkbeat.
1) Chicago is seeing an influx of migrant students. Are schools ready to serve them? To teach students in their native language in a TBE program, a teacher must have a bilingual endorsement, according to an Illinois State Board of Education spokesperson. Another endorsement – in English as a second language — allows a licensed educator to teach English to non-native speakers, said the spokesperson. A Transitional Bilingual Education program must do both — teach students in their native language and teach them English.
2) Education Secretary Cardona praises Colorado’s focus on education that leads to jobs The Career Connected High School Grant program will provide money to school districts, colleges and universities, and employers to pilot strategies that blur the lines between the last two years of high school and the start of postsecondary education… expansion of the program, which will allow for two years of free training in professions such as law enforcement, firefighting, teaching, and forestry.
EdWeek.
1) A Focus on Phonics or Comprehension? What Reading Research Should Look Like in Practice: To develop good readers, teach students to coordinate multiple skills to make meaning If we focus on phonics instruction that is removed from actual reading, students will continue to fail assessments like NAEP. More importantly, they are unlikely to become successful, self-motivated readers. Focusing on phonics as a solution for better reading-comprehension scores is a flawed strategy, as insufficient phonics knowledge is unlikely to be the only reason children struggle to comprehend.
2) What’s With All the Education News Out of Florida? A Recap of Education Policy Decisions But state officials later expanded the scope of the law, which opponents refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, to grades K through 12. The law puts teachers at risk of losing their credentials if they violate it.
Hechinger Report. Lessons from Mississippi: Is there really a miracle here we can all learn from?: A closer look at what happened to reading scores in a state where students have long lagged behind [co-authored by TC Prof. A. Pallas] …for many years leading up to and following passage of the LPBA, the literacy faculty at teacher preparation institutions discussed how to prepare teachers to teach reading in the early grades. These supports, we suspect, have been influential in better preparing Mississippi elementary school teachers and changing instruction in K-3 classrooms. But they have also been hit or miss, with some schools and educators deeply understanding multiple facets of literacy instruction and others more exclusively relying on curriculum packages emphasizing the decoding of words.
NEA News. Navigate Your Student Debt NEA’s student debt experts have created tools designed to help educators through the complicated student debt system.
NYTimes. Texas Revamps Houston Schools, Closing Libraries and Angering Parents: As part of a state takeover plan, libraries in underperforming schools are becoming spaces for disruptive students to watch lessons on computers. The new approach includes a focus on reading and math, paying teachers more when their students score higher on standardized … Schools will also hire community members to teach elective courses like photography and spin classes.
U.S. Dept. of Labor. National Apprenticeship Week [November 13-19, 2023]
Vox. The new “science of reading” movement, explained: A huge shift in how kids are taught to read is underway. But the reading wars probably aren’t gone for good. LETRS, an acronym for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, has become one of the most popular training courses claiming to adhere to the “science of reading.”… Still, others point to the fact that many colleges of education are still teaching methods to prospective teachers like three-cueing…
Wall Street Journal. Florida’s Education Triumph: The state has established new standards that emphasize traditional learning in schools. Florida has introduced new standards in English, language arts, math, social studies, civics and health education… They center on the great books of Western civilization to impart contextual literacy rather than abstract, content-free reading strategies. This change will have positive effects in teacher training: If familiarity with the Western canon becomes a prerequisite for teaching, education schools will have to emphasize traditional learning.
Washington Post.
1) How home-schooling left the kitchen table and became a big business Rose, a registered nurse, had never studied or worked in education before starting her own “microschool,” where her title is “guide” … Her program is part of a company called Prenda, which last year served about 2,000 students across several states…. It’s like Airbnb for education, says Prenda’s CEO… Rose said flatly that she has no interest in formal training. “I could take an exam and say, ‘I’m a teacher.’ I don’t feel there’s any benefit in doing that.”
2) Judge dismisses suit to halt Biden’s student debt relief for longtime borrowers The groups also challenged credit provided to borrowers in long-term forbearance seeking Public Service Loan Forgiveness, in which public sector and nonprofit workers can have the balance of their loans forgiven after 10 years of service.
3) Student loan borrowers approach payment restart with apprehension, confusion Kvaal told the audience. “Our advice to people is you should be making payments.” Interest will accrue on their student loans during the on-ramp period, unlike for the payment pause, he said. And those months will no longer count toward income-driven repayment or Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Kvaal pointed out.
4) WVU’s plan to cut foreign languages, other programs draws disbelief: Academic overhaul at West Virginia University, in response to budget deficit, outrages faculty and students All 24 faculty positions would be cut. There would be no more bachelor’s degrees in Chinese, French, German, Russian or Spanish, and no more master’s degrees in linguistics or teaching English to speakers of other languages.
West Virginia University. Academic Program Portfolio Review As part of the ongoing Academic Transformation initiative, the Provost’s Office has completed its Board of Governors Rule 2.2 Program Review process for the identified program(s) in the School of Education. * MA Higher Education Administration: Discontinuance * MA Multicategorical Special Education: Discontinuance * PhD Higher Education: Discontinuance *EdD Higher Education Administration: Discontinuance
NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Betty Rosa, New York’s top education official, raises equity concerns over class size law The law does not come with new funding earmarked to reduce class sizes, raising the possibility of difficult tradeoffs, such as cuts to other schools or programs… Implementing the law will require the city to hire thousands of new teachers at a cost of between $1.3 billion and 1.9 billion a year, according to projections from the New York City Department of Education and the city’s Independent Budget Office.
NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. NYC must slash class sizes under a new law. The neediest schools stand to benefit least. Hiring thousands of new teachers in New York City could prove a particular challenge, especially at a moment of rising teacher turnover. A hiring spree might force schools to bring on less skilled or less qualified educators, which could limit the gains from smaller classes… “It’s not clear how those decisions are going to be made — and school communities that wind up losing valuable dollars are going to be up in arms,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College who has studied New York City schools.
NYDailyNews. Opinion: There’s finally money for smaller class sizes: New law for NYC schools will help kids Even the NYC Independent Budget Office released a report last month stating the obvious fact that the class size bill will cost money and require the (gasp) hiring of more teachers!… With enrollment at all-time lows after COVID, the timing is perfect for him to begin using the six-year phase-in to identify sites for new schools, build out the system, and hire new teachers with the historic $1.6 billion in additional Foundation Aid provided by the state.
NYTimes. Making Wedding Plans Before the First Date Ms. Sullivan, 34, who was raised in Rockland County, N.Y, is an assistant principal in the East Ramapo Central School district… She received… a master’s in education leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is pursuing her doctorate in education leadership from Columbia.
