Category: Teacher Education

INTERNATIONAL
IEN.
1) A “Right to Play” in Daily Education …and through a cooperative inquiry approach developing a yearlong process of training.
2) Poland: Reforming an improving school system

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) AASCU Report Maps Challenges, Priorities for Teacher Preparation
2) New AACTE Action Group to Focus on Rural Education

EdWeek.
1) Betsy DeVos to State Chiefs: Full Speed Ahead on the Every Student Succeeds Act …the following programs may be included in a consolidated State plan: …Title II, part A: Supporting Effective Instruction;
2) Scientists Take on New Roles in K-12 Classrooms
3) Fostering a Long-Lasting Love of Teaching
4) Teachers at Low-Income Schools Deserve Respect  A casual review of teacher-training courses in my home state of Oregon revealed that none specifically addresses the teaching techniques and special needs of underresourced learners.
5) Teachers in Wisconsin Could Get Lifetime Teaching Licenses Under Budget Proposal
6) Uncertainties as Congress Takes Aim at ESSA Regulations Another resolution, also approved last week by the GOP-controlled House, would overturn final rules issued in October on teacher-preparation programs.
7) Undocumented Teachers Shielded by DACA in Legal and Emotional Limbo

Network for Public Education. The Trump/DeVos Privatization Agenda Begins to Take Shape

NYTimes.
1) Chicago Public Schools Sue Over ‘Discriminatory’ State Funding Michael Rebell, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, who tracks school funding litigation, said plaintiffs have prevailed in 23 states since 1989
2) Teaching and Learning About Governmental Checks and Balances and the Trump Administration

TheAtlantic. Are Teachers Becoming Obsolete?

TheChronicle. In First Higher-Ed Address as Education Secretary, DeVos Praises Community Colleges

The74. The Certification Maze: Why Teachers Who Cross State Lines Can’t Find Their Way Back to the Classroom

TusconWeekly. Jerry Falwell Jr. to Head Trump’s Higher Ed Deregulation Task Force. Expect a Big Boost for Liberty—Falwell’s Liberty University, That Is.

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. Much-criticized teacher literacy test could be on the chopping block next month

EdWeek. Which States Pay Teachers the Most (and Least)? Alaska and New York pay teachers nearly double the salaries of those working in Mississippi and Oklahoma

NYS Assembly. Interviews for NYS Board of Regents Vacancies

NYSED Regents. February meeting cancelled; agenda likely to be taken up in March including:
1) Proposed Amendments to Part 80 of the Commissioner’s Regulations Related to the Elimination of the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST) for Teacher Certification and to Remove Unnecessary References to the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test: http://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/217hea1.pdf
2) Proposed Amendment to Section 80-1.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Establishment of a Multiple Measures Review Process for the edTPA: http://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/217hed1.pdf

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. Little mention of education in de Blasio’s ‘State of the City’ address  “…we’re probably seeing the winding down of Carmen Fariña at the helm,” said Aaron Pallas, an education professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College

NYTimes. De Blasio’s State of the City Has Critics Asking: What About Schools?   Aaron Pallas, a professor of sociology and education at Columbia University Teachers College, said …it could also reflect that the mayor doesn’t have a distinct vision for the schools heading into a possible second term

Teachers College. Feb. 16 Teacher Pop-up Discussion with Prof. Celia Oyler. #TeachActivism

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Advocacy on Teacher Prep Regs Yields House Resolution to Rescind; More Outreach Needed
2) Black & Hispanic/Latino Male Teachers Initiative Networked Improvement Community

AASCU. Preparing teachers in today’s challenging Context: Key Issues, Policy Directions and Implications for Leaders of AASCU Universities

Chalkbeat.
1) Cory Booker vs. Cory Booker: Two videos to understand how the politics of education are being reshaped in the Trump era  In the wake of Trump’s election, other issues …are driving a wedge between Democrats and Republicans who previously could find common ground on education issues.
2) Worried Betsy DeVos could ‘destroy’ public education? Here’s what you should know   “There isn’t that much money that is fungible from the federal education budget,” points out Samuel Abrams, an expert in education policy at Teachers College

DeansForImpact. Special education and the role of teacher-preparation programs

EdWeek.
1) California Teacher Shortages Have Led to ‘Severe Consequences,’ Report Says LPI recommends that California offer scholarships or loan forgiveness to pre-service teachers who commit to teaching in high-needs fields and locations, utilize teacher residency models to help with retention rates…
2) House Votes to Overturn ESSA Accountability, Teacher-Prep Rules
3) Reactions to Betsy DeVos’ Confirmation as Ed. Secretary Range From Joy to Anger
4) ‘Uber for Substitutes’ Promises to Enrich Learning When the Teacher Is Away  Parachute finds prospective substitutes… and offers about three hours of basic training on common issues like classroom management and lesson planning.
5) Will Push to Improve Schools of Ed Continue Without Teacher-Prep Regs?

Hechinger Report. Senate committee approves Betsy DeVos, “Thoughtless proponent of the privatization of American education” [OpEd by TC Prof. Pallas, featured in Tweet by Senator Schumer]

NYTimes.
1) American Universities Must Take a Stand [OpEd by Bard College President L. Botstein]  American colleges and universities, public and private, are … committed to research and teaching in a manner that transcends ordinary politics.
2) Immigrant Students Seek Access to State Financial Aid   …said Lopez, who wants to become a high school math teacher. “I have been worried about paying for college since I was 10…”
3) Preparing Young Americans for a Complex World  For now, teacher education that is focused on this area remains at a nascent stage, says William Gaudelli, an associate professor at Teachers College
4) What to Watch in Congress: Confirmation Votes, Regulation Rollbacks   …and another Education Department rule that sets the parameters for gathering and sharing data on teacher training programs.

PBSNewshour. Column: How I learned my own value as a black male teacher

The Atlantic. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Has Already Affected Public Education   DeVos’s confirmation as secretary could prove itself an unexpected boon for advocates, teachers, and parents exasperated with the state of school reform…

The74. House Blocks Obama-Era ESSA Accountability, Teacher Prep Rules Over Democrats’ Objections  The teacher preparation regulations proposed to rate teacher training programs based, in part, on how well students taught by the programs’ graduates performed on tests…

NEW YORK STATE
NY Daily News. Breakaway Senate Dems want undocumented immigrants to receive college financial aid in N.Y.

NYPost. Critics blast Cuomo’s free-college-tuition plan as a ‘sham’

NYSED Regents Meeting Higher Ed Committee, Feb. 13
1) Amendment… to Automatically Extend the Time Validity of Certain Expired Provisional, Initial or Transitional Certificates for Three Years
2) Emergency Regulation to Eliminate the Requirement That Candidates Must Take and Pass the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST) for Teacher Certification
3) Staff Recommendations Related to the edTPA Task Force Report

PoliticNY. Cuomo defends tuition-free college plan on statewide tour

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. An exit interview with Sophia Pappas, who led New York City’s historic expansion of universal pre-K   …the 35-year-old Georgetown and Harvard grad — who also led early childhood efforts with Teach For America…

TCRecord Book Review. STEM Learning with Young Children: Inquiry Teaching with Ramps and Pathways  Should early grades teachers focus on literacy and mathematics instruction?

 

INTERNATIONAL
BBCNews. Should all countries use the Shanghai maths method? These specialist teachers are given at least five years of training targeted at specific age groups,

EduInternational. UK: Brexit outs EU academics

UNITED STATES
115th US Congress. Contact Senators

AACTE.
1) Ask Congress to Rescind the Teacher Preparation Regulations!
2) Nancy L. Zimpher to Receive AACTE’s Imig Award Distinguished Achievement in Teacher Education
3) Ohio Teacher Educators, PK-12 Partners Collaborate at Teach to Lead Equity Summit

Chronicle of Higher Ed. Jerry Falwell’s New Higher-Ed Task Force Could Take Cues From a Private-College Association’s Playbook …NAICU, highlights several areas “ripest for deregulation in higher education,” including new rules on teacher education,

EdWeek.
1) Here Are Key GOP Senators Who Have Yet to Support or Oppose Betsy DeVos
2) House Republicans Move to Scrap Rules on ESSA, Teacher Preparation
3) How to Pick a Better Ed. Secretary Than Betsy DeVos [OpEd by K Kumashiro, former dean, USF School of Education]
4) New Orleans Spending More on Admins, Less on Teachers Since Charter Takeover   Administrators have largely relied on alternative certification programs like Teach for America since the storm to staff classrooms.

Inside Higher Ed.
1) Data Fears and Downloads Some education researchers have begun downloading federal data amid questions about the new administration’s commitment…
2) Republicans Seek to Block Teacher-Prep Rules

NYTimes.
1) Betsy DeVos, Pick for Secretary of Education, Is the Most Jeered …some Senate offices reported receiving more calls opposing Ms. DeVos than any other Trump nominee.
2) Senate Sets Fight Over Education Secretary for Next Week Voting margins are so thin that Pence, as head of the Senate, may have to cast a tie-breaking vote.

Politico. Former Education Secretary King speaks out against DeVos, Trump “People who care about public education, who care about equity, who care about civil rights should speak out loudly,” King said.

The Education Trust. John B. King Jr. to Serve as President and CEO of the Education Trust

USAToday. Decades after civil rights gains, black teachers a rarity in public schools

Washington Post.
1) Two Republican senators say they will vote against DeVos for education secretary
2) U-Va. education dean: Betsy DeVos’s Senate hearing performance was ‘disqualifying’

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat.
1) Changing education is like ‘moving a battleship on the ocean’: Departing NY Regent reflects on his tenure
2) Famed researcher Linda Darling-Hammond on the future of New York education — and what she makes of Betsy DeVos

EducationNext. As Cuomo Proposal Rekindles Free College Movement, New Research Provides Ammunition for Skeptics [OpEd by TC Assoc. Prof. J. Scott-Clayton]

edTPA Task Force. TAKE ACTION on Proposed Certification Exam Changes, Support the NYS edTPA Task Force Proposals

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. More men of color are teaching in New York City classrooms as city works to boost overall retention and recruitment

NYDaily News. Private colleges need state help too: A local university president urges Gov. Cuomo to help students at more schools

New York City Council, Education Committee Oversight – Teacher Recruitment and Retention Jan. 24, 2017

Teachers College. Edmund Gordon Lecture by Erica Walker. Hidden in Plain Sight: Lessons for Mathematics Education Seen Through a Storytelling Lens Feb. 16

TCRecord Book Review. Hinkel, E. (Ed.) 2016. Teaching English Grammar to Speakers of Other Languages

 

INTERNATIONAL
JapanToday. Startups, venture capitalists, and teachers disrupt education

The Baltic Times. Academy: Education Ministry’s statement about reorganization of Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy is mendacious

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat. President Trump appears to be backing off repealing protections for undocumented youth. But anxiety is still running high. …the president wants to work with congressional leaders to find a long-term solution for young undocumented immigrants — hundreds of them teachers…

EdWeek.
1) Holocaust Group Will Release Classroom Resources for Trump’s First 100 Days
2) Learning Forward Merges With the National Commission on Teaching … calling for education leaders and policymakers to revamp teacher-preparation programs…

Hechinger Report. Why teachers should help students inaugurate a discussion of politics in the classroom [OpEd by Italia Krahling, a masters student in the Teaching of Social Studies program at Teachers College]

HuffingtonPost. An Open Letter To Senator Lamar Alexander About Betsy DeVos

Los Altos Town Crier. Bullis Charter School prepares new teachers for long careers

Michigan State Univ. Teacher Education Professor Receives Presidential Science Award

NAESP. Practitioner’s Corner: What Principals Should Know About edTPA

NYTimes. Campuses Wary of Offering ‘Sanctuary’ to Undocumented Students

The Tennessean. Betsy DeVos is unqualified to lead Education Department by The Teacher Education Collective

NEW YORK STATE
NYS edTPA Task Force. Proposals; Regents may take action on the recommendations at their meeting Feb. 13-14

CNN. New Yorkers start debate on free tuition

EdWeek. New York Poised to Revamp Certification Exams

NYTimes. Private Colleges Suggest New York’s Free Tuition Plan Limits Choices Mary Beth Labate, the [new] president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, has criticized …

Pace University. School of Education Public Forum: Shaping Public Education Policy in New York State March 10

NEW YORK CITY
Gotham Gazette Teacher Recruitment, Retention Will Be Focus of City Council Hearing

New York City Council: Education Committee. 1/24/17 Oversight – Teacher Recruitment and Retention

URGENT

TAKE ACTION on Proposed Certification Exam Changes

— Support the NYS edTPA Task Force Proposals —

This is the first real opportunity for New York teacher educators, K-12 teachers and students to provide input and press for changes in the flawed teacher certification exams and process mandated in 2014. The proposed changes reflect a commitment to high, equitable and reasonable standards for entry into the teaching profession.

After months of collaboration and compromise, the NYS edTPA Task Force issued a report and recommendations to the Board of Regents. The Regents may take action on the recommendations at their meeting Feb. 13-14. There is no guarantee that all task force recommendations will be acted on by the Regents.

They need to hear from YOU.

Contact Your District Regent, At-Large Regents, and the NYS Commissioner of Education NOW and urge them to take action.

Contact information for Commissioner and Regents:

PDF: http://uupinfo.org/committees/pdf/teached/2017Regentscontactinfo.pdf

SED website: https://www.regents.nysed.gov/members/findrep

edTPA Task Force recommendations to the Regents & State Education Department include:

• Convene a standards setting committee to review and potentially recalibrate edTPA score requirements;
• Establish a multiple measures review process so a teacher candidate who fails the edTPA within a narrow margin may be recommended for certification by program faculty based on other evidence of readiness to teach;
• Work with teacher educators to review edTPA handbooks of concern, with two possible outcomes:
• Handbook revision, or
• SED approval of an alternative performance assessment when a mismatch occurs between the edTPA and professional practices in a particular teacher education specalty area;
• Review certification exam costs and evaluate pass rate variations in different certification areas and across different student populations, as well as why they occur;
• Eliminate the Academic Literacy Skills Test, which duplicates other parts of the certification process;
• Examine the Educating All Students exam for possible content problems and  to assess variations in pass rates across certification areas; and
• Examine statewide discrepancies regarding the length and content of the student teaching experience.

SED’s summary of the edTPA Task Force recommendations is posted at the following link:
http://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/117hed2.pdf

INTERNATIONAL
Business Mirror. France opens up full scholarships for teachers’ postgraduate studies

Education International. World Economic Forum: Teachers won’t be substituted by robots, panel agrees

Radio Poland. Polish president signs school reform into law, protests planned   Prime Minister Beata Szydło said on Monday that the reform could see some 5,000 new teaching jobs created.

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Free online course beginning Jan. 30 Designing Assessments to Measure Student Outcomes
2) Receive AACTE Action Alerts and Advocate on Teacher Prep Regs
3) 2016 – The Year in State Policy

Carter, J. H. & Lochte, H. A. (Eds.) (2017). Teacher Performance Assessment and Accountability Reforms: The Impacts of edTPA on Teaching and Schools. Palgrave Macmillan  Pub.

Chalkbeat.
1) I’m an education reformer, and Betsy DeVos is going to kill our coalition. Here’s a game plan. …a political nightmare, since reformers and traditionalists disagree about how to elevate teaching.
2) What Trump’s inauguration means for one undocumented Nashville student-turned-teacher

EdWeek.
1) Ed. Deans to Trump Administration: Uphold the Role of Public Schools
2) Illinois schools boost recruitment for substitute teachers  Faced with a shortage of substitute teachers, school districts in Illinois are increasing their recruitment efforts…
3) Substitute-Teacher Shortages Put Schools to Test
4) Will Betsy DeVos Divide the School Choice Movement? [Commentary] Jeffrey R. Henig is a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Hechinger Report. Colleges are pushed to stand behind what they sell with money-back guarantees

LearnTechLib. Preservice Teacher Mobile Investigation and Interpretation of Everyday Mathematics Across Settings

NEPC. Declaration of Principles on Public Education, Democracy, and the Role of Federal Government

NYTimes. Nominee Betsy DeVos’s Knowledge of Education Basics Is Open to Criticism

Univ. of CA. UC launches new efforts to address California’s teacher shortage

Washington Post. Education deans to Trump: We’re ‘seriously concerned’ about your agenda

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Regents January Meeting.
1). Higher Ed Cmte:

• Proposed Amendment of Sections 80-1.8 and 80-5.18 of the Commissioner’s Regulations Related to the Requirements for the Reissuance of an Expired Initial Certificate and Requirements for a Supplementary Certificate
• Update on the Work of the edTPA Task Force and Changes to Teacher Certification Requirements

2)  Meeting Webcast archives now available

NEW YORK CITY
InternationalEdNews. NYC Outward Bound Schools and the ecology of New York City Schools

INTERNATIONAL. Citifmonline. Teacher trainees to picket at Education Ministry over salary arrears …Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) have threatened to picket at the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service

Education International. Royaume-Uni: Les syndicats d’enseignants s’unissent en faveur d’une hausse des salaires  … « nous ne recrutons pas suffisamment et trop d’enseignantes et enseignants quittent la profession,

TEACHERS TASK FORCE FOR EFA. International Task Force on Teachers for EFA

The Economist. South Africa has one of the world’s worst education systems … teachers paying union officials for plum jobs, and female teachers being told they would be given jobs only in exchange for sex.

 

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat. After welcoming almost 150 undocumented teachers, Teach for America starts planning for a Trump reality

Deans For Impact.
1) A deliberate approach to making teachers truly expert at teaching
2) Values, vision and action at Texas Tech University

EdWeek.
1) Ed. Deans to Trump Administration: Uphold the Role of Public Schools
2) New law aimed at reducing Illinois’ teacher shortage  Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a measure Friday that will make it easier for teachers who move to Illinois to transfer a teaching license,
3) Why Ed. Scholarship Could Soon Be Sidelined [R. Hess blog]

Indivisible. Former congressional staffers reveal best practices for making Congress listen.

LATimes. Forget charter schools and vouchers — here are five business ideas school reformers should adopt Samuel E. Abrams is the director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College

NEAToday. Who Stands Between Fake News and Students? Educators Regardless of their age or socioeconomic status, students across-the-board demonstrated a troubling inability to weed out unreliable information.

NPE. DeVos hearing delayed: Call the HELP committee members today

The Atlantic. How Teachers Learn to Discuss Racism

Washington Post. How testing practices have to change in U.S. public schools Certified Teachers are an Endangered Species [photo: protest sign]

 

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat.
1) Cuomo’s college tuition plan would be a boon for many students, but does it go far enough?
2) Cuomo finishes State of the State tour, proposes funding for AP exams and computer science teachers …create a partnership with the tech sector to “help train educators across the state to teach computer science.”
3) Regents discuss revamping New York state teacher certification requirements …The task force recommendations strike the right balance.                                                                                                                                    

EdWeek. New York Proposes Increased Flexibility to Teacher Certification Process …more flexibility to teachers by allowing them to complete the year of professional development before or after applying for a reissuance.

HuffPost. How to Pass edTPA (1): Sample Middle School Activity-Based Lesson Plan with Video Link [A. Singer Blog]

NewYorkNews. Teacher licensing exam has too high failure rate: Regents

NYSED Regents. 1) Amendment to Section 80-1.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to Safety Nets for the Revised Content Specialty Tests 2) Proposed changes to teacher certification regulations [45-day comment period begins Jan. 25] …additional time to meet the requirements for reissuance of expired classroom certificates… 3) Update on the Work of the edTPA Task Force and Changes to Teacher Certification Requirements

NYSUT. NYSUT backs edTPA task force report, urges Regents’ adoption

 

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. Three big questions as de Blasio’s school turnaround program approaches the three-year mark  “Once the city starts down the road of closing schools I think there will be more pressure to close more of them,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Teachers College.

DNA Info. City Schools Could Lose $500M in Funding Under Trump, Teachers Union Fears Sonya Douglass Horsford, a professor at Teachers College, believes that a voucher program is “ironic and hypocritical,”

NYTimes. City to Close or Merge 9 Schools That Were in Support Program  Aaron Pallas, a professor … at Columbia University’s Teachers College, said…“If these mergers and closures result in new schools that have a new kind of energy, perhaps different staff, perhaps a different culture…

Teachers College. Book Talk: Gurl, Caraballo, Grey, Gunn, Gerwin, & Bembenutty (2017). Policy, Professionalization, Privatization, and Performance Assessment. 5pm, Jan. 24.

TCRecord Book Review. Long, S.; Souto-Manning, M. & Vasquez, V. (2016). Courageous Leadership in Early Childhood Education: Taking a Stand for Social Justice

 

 

INTERNATIONAL
Aljazeera. Mexico: The Power of Early Education And because they’re highly trained, the school empowers the teachers and trusts them to know what’s best for their classes.

Gulf News People. Why Finland’s schools seem to be slipping early-childhood education, highly regarded teaching profession… and alternative models of accountability still continue to be useful

The Local. Denmark passes ‘education cap’ despite protests  The Danish parliament on Monday passed a bill that will bar students from taking a second university degree.

UNITED STATES
AERA Ed Change SIG. LEAD THE CHANGE SERIES Q&A with Marnie H. O’Neill  …as preservice teachers, the students should be aware that discourses, which may seem invisible or ‘normal’ can be offensive or hurtful

American Institutes for Research. How to Build a Better Teacher? Practice, Practice, Practice [InformEd Blog]

Daily Journal in Education. Teacher prep program gets funding boost [Jackson, MS]

DeanForImpact. Practice with Purpose

EdWeek.
1) Assessing Quality of Teaching Staff Still Complex Despite ESSA’s Leeway Daniel Weisberg, the CEO of the teacher-training and advocacy group TNTP …doesn’t see states backing away entirely from considering student growth measures
2) Record Number of Emergency Teachers Certified in Oklahoma
3) Teacher Prep Programs Should Focus on Tech Integration, Ed. Dept. Says

Long Beach Unified School District. Educator Pipeline Featured Nationally

NCTQ. Why the Quality of Teacher Prep Programs Matters

NPREd. Teachers Are Stressed, And That Should Stress Us All

UC Santa Barbara. UCSB professor of education receives a 2017 President’s Research Catalyst Award

Urban Crunch. Educational scam: EdTPA in New Jersey [T. Dell’Angelo Blog]

Vimeo. In the Classroom: Teaching English in Diverse Social & Cultural Contexts [Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz]

Wall Street Journal. Schools Test Medical Model With ‘Teacher Residencies’

Washington Post.
1) New York takes a stab at debt-free college, covering tuition for families earning less than $125,000
2) Trump’s education nominee and her family members are major donors to the senators who will vote on her confirmation

NEW YORK STATE
Capitol Tonight. Education Issues and Priorities in 2017 [NYSED Commissioner Elia’s commentary]

Chalkbeat. Cuomo proposes free college tuition at state schools for families making less than $125,000

NYSED. Regents Meetings. Jan 9-10, 2017
Higher Ed Cmte. Update on the Work of the edTPA Task Force and Changes to Teacher Certification Requirements

NEW YORK CITY
NewYorkPost. Cuomo’s free-tuition plan misses the real need

Teachers College. 4^th Annual Gordon Lecture, Feb. 16; Dr. Erica N. Walker. Hidden in Plain Sight: Lessons for Mathematics Education Seen Through a Storytelling Lens

TC Record
Book Reviews.
1) Emdin, C. (2016). For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education
2) Pagliaro, C. (2016). A Blueprint for Preparing Teachers: Producing the Best Educators for Our Children
3) Ray, A. (2015). Creating Professional Development that Works: What Every Teacher Educator Needs to Know
Commentary.
Jordan, A. Hawley, T. (2016). By the Elite, For the Vulnerable: The edTPA, Academic Oppression, and the Battle to Define Good Teaching

INTERNATIONAL
VVOB. Improved mentoring skills; higher achievements during teaching practice In Cambodia, student teachers are required to carry out 14 weeks of teaching practice throughout their 2-year training programme.

NATIONAL
AACTE. Call for Participation – Study on Yearlong Preservice Preparation Models [Bank Street SFP]

EdWeek.
1) How Massachusetts Built a World-Class School System [M. Tucker blog] Massachusetts … built their own tests set to a much higher standard, using them to ratchet up significantly their standard for teacher licensure.
2) Mountain View School District considers arming teachers The Idaho County Sheriff’s Office would provide firearms training … that would allow a firearm to be carried on school grounds.
3) Va. Governor Asks Retired Teachers to Come Back to Work to Curb Shortage The Virginia Education Association president told the Post that while the union supports McAuliffe’s attempt to fill the classrooms with qualified teachers, there needs to be a long-term solution.

EdSurge. Brain Science and Education: How Much Should Teachers Know? Schools such as Bank Street College or Teachers College at Columbia—which offers a Neuroscience and Education degree program—have already began trailblazing the field.

edTPA/AACTE. Two New edTPA Resources Available

Getting Smart. PBL Quick Start Guide For Teachers

Hechinger Report.
1) College and university enrollment is down for fifth straight year …students over 24, who now make up 40 percent of undergraduate and graduate enrollment.
2) Who should be in charge of licensing Mississippi’s teachers? Task force calls for independent board to take on that role

InsideHigherEd. Is Distance Ed Rule DOA?   Education Department finally issues rule on state approval of online programs [SARA], but with opposition in Congress, it may never go into effect.

LATimes. One solution to failing K-12 schools? Let universities help We truly feel we can prepare educators in a much stronger way at local school sites.

Larry Ferlazzo [Blog]. The Best Collections Of Education Research – 2016

Lipscomb Univ. Lipscomb once again at the head of the class on 2016 Tennessee Teacher Preparation Report Card

NYTimes.
1) To Boost the Economy, Help Students First Ironically, the benefits of these programs disproportionately fall on graduate and professional degree holders with high loan balances …
2) Yellen Tells College Graduates That Value of a Degree Is Rising …research also shows that a college or graduate degree typically leads to a happier, healthier and longer life.

The Newport Plain Talk [TN]. State board launches newly designed teacher preparation report card  Since 2009, Tennessee has provided data on the effectiveness of colleges, universities, and educator preparation providers.

TCRecord. Disadvantaged Language Minority Students and Their Teachers: A National Picture …these teacher-training programs have only become widely available in the past several decades, and veteran teachers did not have the option of obtaining the same types of certification.

USDE, Office of Educational Technology. Advancing Educational Technology in Teacher Preparation: Policy Brief

Wall Street Journal. The government is reducing Social Security checks to recover unpaid student debt

NEW YORK STATE
Comm. on Independent Colleges and Univ. (CiCU)/Bank Street College. Teacher Prep Sustainable Funding Project [SFP] Webinar

NYSED. State Education Department Awards $10 Million In My Brother’s Keeper Grants For MBK Challenge Grant Programs And Teacher Opportunity Corps II …TOC grants will increase the participation rate of historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged individuals in teaching careers.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat.
1) Great divide: How extreme academic segregation isolates students in New York City’s high schools Students in poor-performing schools often contend with ill-prepared teachers, lower expectations, and more behavioral issues…
2) In a win for the UFT, city reaches deal that moves further away from evaluating teachers based on multiple-choice tests

NYTimes. Columbia Challenges Vote by Graduate Students to Unionize

INTERNATIONAL
NYTimes.
1) Defiance and Disillusionment in Heartland of South Korean President’s Support …Park Chung-hee, the divisive Cold War dictator who attended teachers college and taught in Daegu before embarking on a military career.
2) Life After the Caliphate: Boko Haram’s Nigerian Former Stronghold Now a Safe Haven Some of the women work in the school which also helps train them to become teachers,
3) Mexico’s Drug War Marks a Decade Amid Doubts, Changes In Iguala, Guerrero, where 43 teachers’ college students disappeared in 2014, relatives of other people who have vanished were emboldened enough to form a group…

TCRecord Book Review. Child Advocacy and Early Childhood Education Policies in the Caribbean … recommendations for policy and practice provide clear strategies to remedy the issues of teacher training and large classroom sizes.

World Economic Forum. Where are the worst teacher shortages?

NATIONAL
AACTE.
1) ESSA Regulations, Deadlines Now Set for Accountability, State Plans States can submit their consolidated state plans by either April 3 or September 18, 2017.
2) NCTQ Teacher Prep Review members-only Institutional Response Kit. [AACTE sign in required]

AERA.
1) CFP [due Jan. 25]
2) Handbook of Research on Teaching (Fifth Edition)

Brookings Institute. Teacher observations have been a waste of time and money We need more research to identify teaching practices that link directly to learning, rather than using notions of what effective teachers should be doing.

EducationWeek.
1) Congress Faces Range of Education Issues in Next Session Less certain is the fate of final ESSA accountability and testing regulations … as well as rules on teacher preparation
2) Ed. Department to Ed. Schools: Rethink Tech Training for Future Teachers
3) For Advice on Teacher Preparation, States Turn to the Experts: Teachers Themselves
4) GOP Lawmakers Put ESSA Accountability, Teacher-Prep Regulations on Hit List The Obama administration’s teacher preparation regulations under the Higher Education Act and its accountability regulations for the ESSA appear headed for the trash heap
5) House Freedom Caucus Seeks to Dump Obama Transgender, Nutrition Rules The Senate Republican Policy Committee has also put teacher-prep rules on its hit list.
6) In Some States, a Tug of War Over ESSA Plans “What’s going to be important is whether states have a … vision of what the role of public education will be in promoting the well-being of the state,” said Jeffrey Henig, a political scientist at Teachers College, Columbia University
7) Many Teachers Can’t Talk About LGBT Issues in the Classroom, Report Finds Educators acknowledged that harassment was prevalent, but that they lacked training and support to know when and how to help.
8) Program helps teacher assistants become certified teachers
9) Technology Should Replace Basic Teaching Tasks, a New Paper Says   As school districts across the country have struggled recruiting teachers for certain subjects, technology has been used as a stopgap measure to curb the shortage.
10) Two Va. School Districts Invest in Teacher Training, See Student Achievement Gains

Hébert, C (2017). What Do We Really Know About the edTPA? Research, PACT, and Packaging a Local Teacher Performance Assessment for National Use. The Educational Forum, 81: 68–82. The article argues that the distinctions between the assessments are too vast to rely on PACT data to support the edTPA, given the localized nature of PACT and the way in which it is scored.

Hechinger Report.
1) Four reasons why there’s no substitute for classroom time in teacher training Today’s simulations are not yet sophisticated enough to challenge a teacher candidate to merge content knowledge, appropriate questioning, culturally sensitive pedagogy…
2) What should new teachers know before they set foot in a classroom?

NEA. Oakland educator’s African American girls’ initiative teaches girls of color they matter too She and Malloy have started training educators at their school to engage girls of color through a culturally responsive lens…

New Republic. Can Democrats Save Public Schools from Trump and DeVos? Democrats have to recognize their own culpability. Ravitch and Samuel Abrams, …at the Columbia University Teachers College, both say Obama, in particular, helped make it possible.

NYTimes.
1) Betsy DeVos and God’s Plan for Schools Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University… was Mr. Trump’s first pick for secretary of education. Liberty University teaches creationism alongside evolution [incl. teacher prep pgms].
2) Make Colleges Diverse

PRWeb. Pearson Releases Research-Based Learning Design Principles for Public Use

The Hunt Institute. Defending the Teacher Prep Regulations: Why They Deserve to be Saved …it’s unlikely that states will ever have to put these new regulations into action. The new Congress that takes office in January is likely to nullify them under the Congressional Review Act.

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Regents.
1) Development of New York’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) State Plan |  PDF [Draft plan released in May; public hearing and comment period May-June, submit to Governor in July (30 days), submit to USDE in Sept.]
2) Appointment to the State Professional Standards and Practices Board  BR (CA) 3
3) Proposed Amendment of Section 80-5.4 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Employment of Substitute Teachers Without a Valid Teaching Certificate  BR (CA) 6 *

NEW YORK CITY
DNAInfo.
1) Number of Art Teachers in City Schools Hits 11-Year High, Chancellor Says …the DOE says it employees 2,757 full-time, certified arts teachers, a number not seen in 11 years.
2) Rapper Charged in Irving Plaza Shooting Speaks to HS Students at Columbia Troy Ave… was a guest of Christopher Emdin, an associate professor in science education at Teacher’s College