Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Dec. 19 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
MNA International. Armed guards stop Afghan women entering universities after Taliban ban   The ban comes less than three months after thousands of girls and women were allowed to sit for university entrance exams across the country, with many aspiring for teaching and medicine as future careers. “Just think of all the female doctors, lawyers and teachers who have been, and who will be, lost to the development of the country,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement.

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) #AACTE75Days75Ways to Advocate for Education  Tip #9: “Attracting and recruiting prospective students to your teacher preparation program requires personal contact from teacher education faculty members and admissions offices. This strategy is far more effective than postal mail, social media, website, or email blasts.” -Dwight Manning Associate Director, Office of Teacher Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
2) AACTE Contributes to the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact   This initiative began with the Council of State Governments (CSG) partnering with the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) to support the mobility of licensed teachers through the development of a new interstate compact.
3) Register for #AACTE23: Attend the Premier Educator Preparation Meeting  Beat the Price Increase and Register by January 6 [Indianapolis February 24 – 26]

Economic Policy Institute. The pandemic has exacerbated a long-standing national shortage of teachers   While the Title II data show a large, steady increase in enrollment in nontraditional teacher preparation programs after 2014, the large and growing gap between initial enrollment and successful completion casts doubt on the ability of nontraditional programs, as currently structured, to contribute to the total supply of potentially qualified teachers.

EdPrepLab. Third Annual Virtual Policy Summit [Tues. January 24, 2023; 1:30 – 3:00 PM ET]

EdWeek. The Teaching Profession in 2022 (in Charts)  Chart #5: Teachers Say They Need More Support in Early Reading Instruction An EdWeek analysis this year found that 29 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws or implemented policies over the past decade to bring teacher training, materials, interventions, or teacher preparation in line with evidence-based approaches to reading instruction.

Hechinger Report. While white students get specialists, struggling Black and Latino readers often get left on their own   Black and Latino families have a much harder time than their white peers accessing two key tools to literacy: an instructor trained in how best to teach struggling readers the connections between letters and sounds… Nationally, these teachers and schools are scarce and coveted commodities, generally accessible only to those with time, money and experience navigating complicated, sometimes intransigent bureaucracies.

NorthJersey.com Phil Murphy signs law to shift NJ teacher certification testing to colleges   The law also exempts graduates of teacher training programs in 2020, 2021 and 2022 who were unable to take the edTPA or a similar requirement because of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as “abrupt changes in teaching placements or modalities, asynchronous virtual learning environments and school district policies or other restrictions” from the public health emergency.

NYTimes. California Begins Service Program for College Students: Students receive $10,000 from the state to pay tuition and living expenses in exchange for 450 hours of community service work.   Over the course of the academic year, the students will serve 450 hours, which is about 15 hours a week. Half of the fellows are spending that time tutoring and mentoring in low-income schools in an effort to address the state’s Covid-driven learning loss…

State of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. Governor Murphy Signs Legislation Addressing Teacher Shortage by Eliminating the edTPA Requirement   Governor Phil Murphy today signed S896 w/GR into law, which prohibits the State Board of Education from requiring the completion of the Educative Teacher Performance Assessment (“edTPA”) as a condition of eligibility for a certificate of eligibility with advanced standing (“CEAS”) or certificate of eligibility (“CE”). 

Washington Post.
1) How dyslexia became a social justice issue for Black parents   In Boston… In the public system, campuses with larger White student populations tend to employ significantly more teachers trained in programs designed specifically for students having difficulty learning to read…
2) Students are behind in math and reading. Are schools doing enough?   Among this year’s 670 tutors are graduate assistants from University of North Carolina at Greensboro and University of North Carolina A&T, a historically black university. Other tutors are undergraduates, high school students, teachers and community members. Each is trained and paid to confer with teachers for 30 minutes a week.

NEW YORK STATE
Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching
1) November Meeting Minutes
2) NYS Program Guidance and Standards for Mentoring 2022   The purpose of NYS Program Guidance and Standards for Mentoring is to offer program guidance and a set of standards to build a system of supports to retain and help new educators thrive in their local context and the profession.

NEW YORK CITY
Gothamist. NYC has spent $60M to help new migrant students as schools scramble to meet basic needs   Approximately 147,000 students in the city’s public schools are considered English language learners, according to education department statistics. But, according to the United Federation of Teachers, fewer than 3,000 teachers are certified as bilingual instructors — approximately one bilingual educator for every 47 students who do not speak English.

InsideHigherEd. NYU Pauses Music Ed Admissions: The announcement that NYU would pause admissions to its music education program came as a shock to the whole department. Many questions remain unanswered.   Nonken discussed changes in the field of music education … While our program historically focused on training teachers for New York City schools, we want to expand our mission to reflect the changing field and to give students the ability to explore related areas such as music technology, music therapy and arts administration. This approach will also tap into the expertise of the talented faculty in our other programs.”

Teachers College. Columbia Teachers College Presents Defining US Documentary Screening Join CWK Network and Teachers College, Columbia University for an important townhall screening and discussion featuring TC Associate Professor and Cast Member Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz. [Thur. January 26, 4:00 – 8:00 PM EST]

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Dec. 12 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
Pulse.com. GES delays vacation of basic schools, re-opening date remains the same   … about 44,000 teachers have failed the mandatory Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE). The Registrar for the National Teaching Council, Dr Christian Addai-Poku disclosed this at the 2022/23 Cohort …He lamented that the results of the examinations were worrying, considering the poor performance of the teachers who were supposed to be imparting knowledge to children.

Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC). Production Report: Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC) 2022 – Present  Research presentations in Armenia and Turkey

The Conversation. We asked 900 Australian teachers if evidence informs how they teach – and found most use it, but there are key gaps   Our survey also suggests teachers do not get enough support and training to access research-based approaches.

The Guardian. Teacher shortage could worsen after DfE rejects dozens of training courses  England’s teacher shortage could worsen after the government rejected appeals by dozens of established providers to gain official accreditation for their initial teacher training courses… Only 179 out of 240 existing teacher training courses have been accredited under DfE’s new standards from 2024

UNITED STATES
AACTE. New Board Members Elected for 2023

ABC News. Lawmakers propose raising teachers’ minimum salaries to $60K to stem ‘mass exodus’   Wilson said she’s seen firsthand how other teachers can feel undervalued, weakening the workforce as a whole. She said that her son Paul became a teacher to follow in her footsteps, but his college professors attempted to dissuade him because they said teachers weren’t paid enough… The American Teacher Act would be one remedy to those concerns. The bill, co-led by Wilson and Bowman, was drafted in collaboration with the nonprofit, nonpartisan Teacher Salary Project.

Burlington County Times. NJ task force on public school staff shortages gets final 23 members   In an attempt to help alleviate the shortage, Murphy in September eliminated a key teacher licensing test from state requirements. The educative Teacher Performance Assessment, or edTPA, will nonetheless have to be replaced with another benchmark to ensure teacher quality, according to state records.

Chalkbeat. Her students were babies during lockdown. Here’s how that’s changed her approach.   What advice would you give someone considering a career in early childhood education? First, see if this is the right fit for you. Visit and observe all types of schools and all ages, birth to five. Learn about Maria Montessori, Emilia Reggio, and play-based schools. Visit a Head Start, charter, or traditional public school, or one of the academically focused centers. 

Chronicle. The Pandemic Accelerates a Decline in Campus-Based Child Care   Many day cares are operating at reduced capacity because of health restrictions or staff shortages… The larger of Amarillo College’s two centers is licensed to serve 135 students, but currently has only 78 because of staffing shortages, according to Dennis Sarine, director of teacher preparation and early childhood education. 

EdWeek
.
1) The Biden Administration’s New STEM Initiative: What Will It Mean for K-12 Schools?   Micron, a semiconductor, memory, and storage manufacturer, and the National Science Foundation plan to invest $10 million to accelerate training of new STEMM teachers, support the retention of existing STEMM educators, and advance diversity and equity in the STEMM teacher workforce.
2) Teachers Would Make at Least $60K Under New Federal Bill   The bill also would dedicate funds to a national campaign that would expand awareness of the value of teaching and encourage secondary and college students to consider the career. 
3) Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff [January 26, 2023; 2:00 to 6:00 PM EST]

Forbes. New Bill Aims To End The Teacher Shortage With Higher Pay   Aiming to drastically increase the number and quality of people entering the teaching profession, the bill includes not only raises, but also national campaigns on the value of teaching. These campaigns may help to attract new talent and strengthen the weak teacher pipeline.

Hechinger Report. Third graders struggling the most to recover in reading after the pandemic: Analysis of 7 million students across the country sounds alarm for younger learners    Teachers in older grades don’t necessarily have the specialized training to backfill what students missed.  A second grade teacher, for example, would likely not know much about teaching students how to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words, an important step in learning to read called “phonemic awareness,” because it’s a skill that is the province of kindergarten and first grade teachers, Shanahan explained. 

Jersey Journal. This New Jersey university is laying off 30 professors, eliminating 37% of academic programs   Cash-strapped New Jersey City University is taking a sharpened axe to its list of academic programs and roster of professors… The programs eliminated include numerous science degrees from Environmental Science, Physics, and concentrations in Biology, Early Childhood and Elementary teaching degrees…

Learning Policy Institute (LPI).
1) The Road to Recovery in Learning: How California Points the Way   …efforts have left no aspect of education untouched, including: * investing $3 billion in teacher recruitment and retention through service scholarships, supports for preparation and mentoring, and new program models like teacher residencies… Los Angeles was also able to open school with all of its vacancies filled this year, while many districts were experiencing severe shortages, in part because it was …reaping the benefits of its several teacher residency programs that produced a well-prepared supply of teachers in shortage areas who have been staying in the classroom. 
2) Webinar: Educator Preparation Laboratory Second Annual Policy Summit [Jan 24, 2023 01:30 PM in Eastern Time]

NYTimes.
1) There’s a Reason There Aren’t Enough Teachers in America. Many Reasons, Actually.   Here are just a few of the longstanding problems plaguing American education: a generalized decline in literacy; the faltering international performance of American students; an inability to recruit enough qualified college graduates into the teaching profession… both intended and unintended consequences for teacher accountability reforms mandating tougher licensing rules, evaluations and skill testing….
2) Thousands of Teens Are Being Pushed Into Military’s Junior R.O.T.C.   J.R.O.T.C. programs, taught by military veterans at some 3,500 high schools across the country, are supposed to be elective…
3) Why Some Hasidic Children Can’t Leave Failing Schools   Recently, Ms. Weber said, Aaron’s teacher told him that the planets revolve around the Earth.

Washington Post. Study: Public schools paid teachers more than private ones in 2020-21   Public school teachers earned more than their counterparts in private schools in 2020-21, extending a longtime trend linked to licensing requirements…

NEW YORK STATE
Board of Regents. December Meetings
Proposed Amendment … Relating to Extensions for Coordinators of Work-Based Learning Programs  The proposed extension will also have the same base certificate, coursework, and experience requirements as the Coordinator of Work-Based Learning Programs for Career Awareness extension, with some revisions. The revisions include removing references to Provisional teaching certificates that no longer exist and adding Initial and Professional School Counselor certificates that become effective February 2, 2023, as eligible certificates for the base certificate requirement

WKBW Buffalo. Lack of teachers of color in classrooms   …Buff State’s effort goes even deeper, reaching students in high school. The college operates two urban teacher academies in the Buffalo Public School District — McKinley and International Prep.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. This virtual learning program has ‘changed the game’ for NYC’s small high schools  “Pretty quickly I was like, wow this is very different,” said Ellis-Lee, who is teaching AP US History and AP Human Geography virtually this year. “The kids are in a classroom in their school, they’re not sitting in their bed. There’s none of that trauma that we had to go through, thank God. And they also have a live, certified teacher that they already know in the room with them.”

NYPost. NYC parents scramble for kindergarten Gifted & Talented entry   …Adams said. “I’ve also had pre-K teachers tell me, ‘I haven’t been trained to assess whether or not a child is gifted. If a parent asks me for a nomination, I am going to give it.’” 

Teachers College. 5 Must-Read Books on Race & Inclusion for Teachers   To help support and challenge educators at the start of the school year, we asked Teachers College faculty members to share their recommendations of thoughtful, anti-racist works to inspire you professionally and beyond

Categories
Teacher Education

Production Report: Teaching Residents at Teachers College (TR@TC) 2022 – Present

Akin-Sabuncu, S., & Goodwin, A. L. (2022, October). Effective Mentor Teachers for Strong Faculty-School Partnership: A Case Study from the United States. Paper presented at the 10th International Congress on Curriculum and Instruction (ICCI), Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.

Akin-Sabuncu, S., & Goodwin, A. L. (2022, August). Mentoring Residents (Preservice Teachers) in High-Need Urban Schools: Insights and Lessons from a Clinically Rich Urban Teacher Residency Program. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia.

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Dec. 5 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
CBS News 60 Minutes (Mozambique). Restoring Gorongosa National Park after decades of war   We now work in 89 primary schools, which is every single school that surrounds this national park. We’re training 600 schoolteachers right now. Now think about how difficult it is to create a school system when you don’t have schoolteachers that know how to read and write because of generations of war. 

InsideHigherEd. Ukrainian Students Enrich U.S. Campuses    Andriyana Baran spent the 2020–21 academic year as a Fulbright scholar in the United States… Then she returned to her home country of Ukraine to work as a language instructor for Teach for Ukraine, an NGO akin to Teach for America. 

Ottawa Citizen. Teachers college issues review of Oakville teacher who wears huge fake breasts as parents ponder lawsuit   The in-class apparel of the transgender teacher at the school west of Toronto was revealed by photos posted online by students soon after the start of the school year in September. In response to intense local and international attention, Lecce asked the teachers college to review and consider strengthening its professional conduct provisions.

Sydney Morning Herald. Grammar is back: Sweeping overhaul of English syllabus for years 3-10   “NAPLAN data show students can’t write effective sentences. Teachers are also not being trained to teach the complexities of high school writing,” Knapp said, adding that universities would need to address their teacher training courses to produce graduates who are competent in teaching writing.

UNITED STATES
AACTE. New Data: AACTE Finds College and University-Based Alternative Teacher Preparation Programs More Effectively Address Educator Shortage than Alternative Programs Outside of Higher Ed   AACTE released a new analysis focusing on alternative preparation programs run by institutions of higher education (IHE-based alternative programs). The study shows that IHE- based alternative teacher preparation programs are bringing more educators to the strained workforce than alternative programs run by organizations other than colleges and universities.

ABC News. Amid teacher shortage, Black male educators point to why there aren’t more of them   Sharif El-Mekki, the founder and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development (CBED), who co-founded the Black Male Educators for Social Justice fellowship to inspire new generations of Black men to work for social justice through teaching, hopes school communities hire educators with varied cultural backgrounds and experiences who come from the communities that their students live in.

Boston College
. A. Lin Goodwin is Lynch School’s new Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education   A. Lin Goodwin, a globally renowned teacher-education expert and the former dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong, has joined the Lynch School of Education and Human Development as the Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education, announced Stanton E.F. Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J., dean. Goodwin, who previously served as the Evenden Professor of Education and vice dean at Columbia University’s Teachers College, assumes the endowed position held by Andrew Hargreaves until 2018. 

Chalkbeat.
1) Michigan teacher shortage prompts superintendents to propose new certification route   Regional superintendents across the state are banding together to develop an alternate route to certification that emphasizes early on-the-job training and income opportunities for prospective teachers… The program would be similar to On the Rise Academy, an alternative route program offered by Detroit Public Schools Community District that pays candidates to work in support staff roles while working toward certification. Nine other alternative route providers are approved in Michigan for teacher certification.
2) New program will pay for Indiana teachers to earn license to teach English language learners   The Indiana Teacher of English Language Learners (I-TELL) program will pay for tuition and fees for current educators to earn the additional licensure they need to become teachers of record for students who are learning English. It’s a partnership between the Indiana Department of Education and University of Indianapolis’ Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning
3) ‘Reading is not a given’: National and local educators speak on how to teach reading in classrooms   States around the country have passed laws to teach the science of reading in the early grades… Some have created a statewide curriculum and recommended textbooks, third grade literacy screenings, professional development for teachers, and revamping teacher preparation programs.

EdWeek.
1) 11 Critical Issues Facing Educators in 2023   Teacher-prep programs – Not only should there be conversations about how colleges and universities are preparing our nation’s teachers, but a big issue for 2023 is how those same colleges and universities are recruiting prospective teachers to enter the profession in the first place.
2) How a Divided Congress Will Influence K-12 Education Policy   Sanders, who is known for his commitment to universal access to education and health care, is likely to push for universal free college, efforts to bolster the teacher pipeline, dual-enrollment programs, and expansion of early childhood education.
3) Simple Advice for Effective Classroom Management: 5 important foundations

Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Virtual learning left teachers scrambling. How are teacher prep programs catching up?   Lynn Gangone, president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, said colleges of education across the country are governed to a certain degree by what their states require of their degree programs. Institutions sometimes want to be more creative in what courses they offer their students, she said, but the combination of those state requirements and the fact that there are only so many hours in a degree program leave little room for innovation.

Hechinger Report. American classrooms urgently need more tutors, so why not mobilize teachers in training?   The proposed PATHS to Tutors Act would establish a $500 million program to support tutoring partnerships among educator-preparation programs, school districts and nonprofit organizations in underserved communities. It’s co-sponsored by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Chris Murphy (D-Del.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine), and would provide critical investments and infrastructure to create and scale high-quality partnerships.

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL
). 2022 Report. The Time is Now: Reimagining World-Class State Education Systems   The education systems we studied all were built on a corps of world-class, well-prepared teachers working in schools that are organized to develop their expertise. These countries take a systemic approach to developing teachers, with a common vision for teachers’ preservice preparation and ongoing professional learning. They all have a limited number of teacher preparation programs with curriculum closely tied to core curriculum content and meaningful practice of the teaching craft. 

Washington Post. Shortages of staff and equipment continue to plague schools, new data shows   Many places are deploying long-term substitute teachers, who in many cases need only a high school diploma. Others have created training paths that don’t require college diplomas. In Oklahoma, which has faced a decade of shortages, districts can now hire high school graduates.

NEW YORK STATE
Board of Regents December Meeting Agendas. Monday 12/12 & Tuesday 12/13

InsideHigherEd
. John B. King Jr. to Lead SUNY System   “SUNY Faculty and students should be forewarned!” Lisa Rudley, the executive director of NY State Allies for Public Education, said in a statement. “John King consistently ignored the legitimate concerns of parents and teachers regarding the policies he pursued as NY State Education Commissioner, by rewriting the standards, imposing an arduous high stakes testing regime, and basing teacher evaluation on student test scores, none of which had any research behind it and all of which undermined the quality of education in our public schools. This led to a no-confidence vote of the state teachers union…”

Professional Standards and Practices Board for Teaching. September Meeting Minutes

State University of New York (SUNY). SUNY Board of Trustees Appoints John B. King, Jr., Lifelong Educator and former U.S. Secretary of Education, as the System’s 15th Chancellor   Chancellor King holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Harvard University, a Master of Arts in the teaching of social studies from Columbia University’s Teachers College, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a Doctor of Education degree in educational administrative practice from Columbia University’s Teachers College. 

Teachers College. Alum John B. King Named Chancellor of SUNY: A prominent leader in education equity and policy, King will lead the largest higher ed system in the U.S.   Teachers College alumnus and former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. (Ed.D. ’08, M.A. ’97) has been named as the new chancellor of the State University of New York, its Board of Trustees announced on Dec. 5.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. Half of NYC students are behind in reading. Hundreds of CUNY tutors aim to change that.   The Reading Corps program helped address both of those problems, paying tutors in graduate or undergraduate education programs between $20 to $25 an hour to work with public school children for three to five sessions a week over about 13 weeks. Before they begin working with children, the tutors receive between six and 12 hours of training in one of two reading programs, both of which include phonics lessons.

Categories
Teacher Education

Weeks of Nov. 21 and 28 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Educators as Soldiers on the Global Education Battlefield   Utilizing the network of colleagues through the international educational collaboration between GCUE (Global Community uniting for Equity) and its affiliate in Ukraine, CEUJE (Community of Educators Uniting for Justice and Equity), Rochonda Nenonene and Novea McIntosh,  from the University of Dayton — a Marianist community educating for justice, service, and peace across the world — collaborated with Ukrainian future teachers to teach them culturally responsive assessment and social-emotional learning strategies. 

ERR (Estonia). State provides extensive subsidies for transition to education in Estonian   “We will raise the number of teacher training places at universities, offer more flexible modes of study, provide language training for educators and encourage teachers to enter and remain in the profession in order to increase the number of teachers with strong Estonian language skills,” Lukas explained.

Ministers of the Education Portfolio. Draft National Teacher Workforce Action Plan released   Actions the Australian Government will fund include: * $159 million to train more teachers,…

News18 (India). HP Education Regulator Impose Rs 34 Lakh Fine on NCFSE Group   A hefty penalty of nearly Rs 34.05 lakh has been imposed on the NCFSE group of institutions by the state’s educational commission for violating the regulations of a teacher education programme… Seventeen institutions have admitted students in the two-year Diploma in Nursery Teacher Training (DNTT) and the one-year Nursery Teacher Training (NTT) courses after getting affiliation from the NCFSE in violation of regulations of the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE), the officials said.

UNITED STATES
AACTE. Using COVID Funds to Support Apprenticeships   The Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter to states and local educational agencies (LEAs) to remind them that they can continue to respond to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by using funds Congress appropriated in response to the pandemic to, among other things, expand opportunities for high-quality work-based learning, often referred to as “apprenticeships.”

Chalkbeat.
1) Changes to Illinois’ early childhood education funding needed to fix pay disparities, advocates say   …the study compared salaries based on credentials that educators in K-12 and early childhood both have — such as college degrees and professional licenses… The results align with national findings that show early childhood educators in Illinois are paid about 30% less than public elementary school teachers in kindergarten through eighth grade despite having the same degree and license. 
2) Philadelphia gathering focuses on increasing numbers of Black male educators   El-Mekki, who started his career as a middle school teacher in 1993, has created a Black Teacher Pipeline Project, which started out awarding four fellowships to aspiring Black male teachers each year. Now, there are 26 fellows annually and $1 million in the Future Black Teachers of Excellence Fund… A new Pennsylvania law, SB99, allows high school courses on education and teaching to be eligible for Career and Technical Education credits.

EdWeek.
1) A Media Literacy Requirement That Starts in Kindergarten? New Jersey May Start the Trend   An earlier version of the bill would’ve required the department of education to provide in-service training and teacher preparation programming on media literacy. The final version doesn’t include those requirements.
2) As Head Start Quality Push Continues, Advocates Raise Red Flag on Equity   But efforts to improve quality increased the cost of local programs, Barnett said. For example, teachers with bachelors degrees may require higher salaries than their peers without them.
3) Linda Darling-Hammond Wins International Prize for Education Research: The $3.9 million Yidan Prize is arguably the world’s most prestigious education award   When I met some extraordinary teachers and began to study how they had learned to teach, and conducted research on teacher preparation at RAND and, later, at Teachers College, Columbia University, I discovered a deep knowledge base that few teachers could access. I determined then to work on understanding high-quality preparation for teachers and figuring out how it could become widespread.
4) The Architects of the Standards Movement Say They Missed a Big Piece   “Coherence is the next piece of the agenda,” said Laura Slover, the chief executive of the nonprofit CenterPoint Education Solutions and the former CEO of PARCC …teachers in the state didn’t always have the training they needed to implement these materials well, said John B. King, the former New York state education commissioner… Panelists highlighted examples of states that have bolstered support for curriculum implementation…

Government Technology. How Are Teacher Prep Programs Adapting to Virtual Learning?   Teacher preparation programs like the one at the University of Texas have overhauled their curricula to incorporate digital tools for remote learning, as well as training to respond to students’ mental health needs.

Hechinger Report.
Schools can’t afford to lose any more Black male educators: Only about 7 percent of America’s public school teachers were Black, according to the most recent data, while Black children make up 15 percent of the student population   Clemson University’s Call Me MiSTER program has been around for about two decades. The concept behind the program is recruiting, training and certifying minority men to become elementary school teachers in South Carolina.

KSHB. Kansas City Teacher Residency receives $5 million donation to support teacher recruitment, diversity   Kansas City Teacher Residency (KCTR), an organization that works to recruit, prepare, place and retain teachers in the Kansas City area, has received a $5 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

Lansing State Journal. Michigan State shortens teaching prep program from five to four years to address teacher shortages   The teacher preparation program will retain core elements, including a one-year internship and curriculum that focuses on social justice and equity, according to the press release, while making the program shorter and helping students save about $16,700 in tuition, not including thousands of dollars more in travel and living expenses.

ProPublica. At Washington State Special Education Schools, Years of Abuse Complaints and Lack of Academics   A special education director observed uncertified teachers struggling with no curriculum and urged the state to step in to protect “these extremely high-risk students.”… Washington also doesn’t demand state inspections and has vague staffing obligations. It requires an unspecified number of certified teachers and only one special education teacher per school. 

U.S. Dept. of Education FSA. 4 Loan Forgiveness Programs for Teachers   1. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program 2. Teacher Loan Forgiveness (TLF) 3. Perkins Loan Cancellation for Teachers 4. State-Sponsored Student Loan Forgiveness Programs

Washington Post.
1) Another big right vs. left learning standards debate. Who cares?   Chester E. Finn Jr., a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, was less pessimistic. “It’s true that state academic standards themselves don’t teach anybody anything,” he said, but “in the long run they affect curriculum, teacher prep, assessments, accountability and more.”
2) Student loan-payment freeze extended as courts weigh debt relief

WHYY. Pa. releases anti-racist guidelines as part of teacher-prep overhaul   This is the first time the state has included what educators refer to as “culturally-relevant and sustaining education” guidelines as part of its requirements for teacher-preparation programs.

NEW YORK STATE
InsideHigherEd. SUNY Sees Massive Increase in Applications   SUNY has seen a more than 110 percent year-over-year increase—from 97,257 to 204,437—in fall 2023 applications.

NYSED
1) Office of Higher Education Educator Preparation Newsletter
* Teacher Performance Assessment FAQs
* Board of Regents November Items.  a) School Building Leader: The Department proposed a regulatory amendment to revise the experience requirements for Professional School Building Leader (SBL) 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.  b) Special Application For School Building Leader Programs To Show Alignment With The PSELS
2) Public comment period on Proposed Amendment.. Relating to the Student Teaching Requirements for Registered Teacher Preparation Programs and Through the Individual Evaluation Pathway to Certification    Comments must be submitted by December 19, 2022, to William P. Murphy, Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Higher Education, Room 975, Education Building Annex, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234, or email [email protected]
3) Public comment period on Proposed Amendment … Relating to the Experience Requirement for Professional School Building Leader Certification    Comments must be submitted by January 30, 2023 to William P. Murphy, Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Higher Education, Room 975, Education Building Annex, 89 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12234, or email [email protected].

Syracuse University News
. SUNY ESF Graduates Launch Their Science Teaching Careers Together at the School of Education   Syracuse University’s relationship with its close neighbor, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, has been a long and fruitful one. After all, SUNY ESF was founded as a unit of SU in 1911, and today the two universities share resources, their professors collaborate, and students mingle across the two campuses, take classes together, join cross-campus organizations, and—sometimes—graduate from one college and into the other. That last scenario is certainly the case for six SUNY ESF graduates who, in summer 2022, enrolled in the School of Education’s (SOE) 13-month master’s degree program in science education (Grades 7-12).

NEW YORK CITY
Bank Street College. Recruiting for Residencies: Possibilities for Today & Tomorrow [Nov. 16th Video Recording]

Chalkbeat. Computer science classes have an equity issue. Some NYC educators are trying to change that.   New York City is trying to address this through a program called “Computer Integrated Teacher Education” to help train more than 1,000 New York City teachers to integrate computing across subjects. The $14 million initiative, announced Monday, is funded through a public/private partnership with the education department, CUNY, Google, Robin Hood, and Gotham Gives…

Teachers College. What You May Not Know About TC Alum & Trailblazer Shirley Chisholm: In honor of what would have been the legend’s 98th birthday, a look at her life and lasting impact   “I enrolled in TC to follow a career in the classroom, because I felt then, as I feel now, that education is the only real passport out of poverty,… If teachers are valuable to society, the school that teaches the teachers bears enormous responsibility to the next generation,” Chisholm wrote. “TC must continue to make sure that it graduates a diverse and innovative pool of educators who believe every child has something to give and that we are at our best as a society when the doors of opportunity are open wide for them all.”

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Nov. 14 in Teacher Ed News

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]

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Nov. 7 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
Mid-day. Union slams Maharashtra govt affidavit on aspiring teachers’ hiring freeze   The Maharashtra Students Union (MASU) and the advocate representing it before the apex court has punctured holes in the affidavit submitted by deputy education officer Sandeep Sangave on behalf of the state of Maharashtra in the matter of the BMC freezing the recruitment of 253 teachers to civic primary and secondary schools, as the candidates had not done their schooling in English medium. 

Univ. of Auckland. Teacher Education in Schools expanding for 2023   After a successful first year, the University of Auckland is continuing and expanding the Teacher Education in Schools Programme for online students wanting to become secondary teachers in 2023.

World Socialist Web Site. Australian university union hails Labor’s cost-cutting budget   …the extra places are tied to vocational courses designed to funnel students into “skills shortages” areas identified by the government and employers, with the lion’s share going to teacher education, followed by nursing…. 

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) Board of Directors Election [vote by Nov. 30]
2) Real Classroom Experience and Real Pay: A Snapshot of a Teacher Preparation Program in America’s Most Diverse Small City   New Jersey City University, a minority serving institution, is home to the innovative “Teacher Intern Program” (TIP)… IP interns work anywhere from 10-30 hours/week, depending on their academic schedule and schools’ needs. They earn $20 an hour which is 54% above the New Jersey minimum wage. Substitute license fees and Praxis exam reimbursement are also provided by the program. Funding, provided by partner schools, is typically sourced through Title I budgets.

Education Week.
1) Election Guide 2022: Results on the Issues and Races Affecting K-12   Outside of raising teacher pay, some of the solutions Democrats and some Republicans proposed included establishing statewide “grow your own” and apprenticeship programs, recruiting teachers from rural areas, and partnering with colleges and universities to create more robust teacher preparation programs.
2) Lucy Calkins Revisits and Revises Her Reading Curriculum (by TC Prof. L. Calkins)   The message that has been pushed out by some phonics advocates, and that has trickled down to parents and even some educators, is an oversimplified one: If only teachers would teach phonics exclusively, then presto, all the reading problems in the world would vanish… To date, there is no evidence that a curriculum that gives sole attention to phonics and focuses especially on kids sounding out words—as important as that work is—will, on its own, prepare kids for mastery of rigorous state standards.

Forbes. How Bowie State University Is Diversifying The Teaching Profession   As teacher education programs across the nation cope with enrollment declines, Bowie State University, a historically Black university in Maryland, has been steadily increasing the number of students enrolled in bachelors’ education programs, growing from 221 students in 2018 to 319 in 2021, a substantial jump

InsideHigherEd. Moving Forward on FAFSA Simplification  Colleges and universities have to update their cost of attendance calculations now that the Education Department has said it is carrying out that change and others for the 2023–24 academic year.

New York Times. Pranks, Parties and Politics: Ron DeSantis’s Year as a Schoolteacher   Mr. DeSantis taught at Darlington in the 2001-02 school year after graduating from Yale University and just before attending Harvard Law School… Like other first-year teachers, Mr. Wempe said, Mr. DeSantis was “drinking from a fire hose” and learning the job on the fly. 

The74. Breaking Down the Walls to Teaching: Alternative Pipelines Boom   Residencies, fellowships, and grow-your-own programs bring more diverse educators into the profession, help vacancies in STEM, special education

Univ. of North Georgia. Students learn about teacher education   More than 170 high school students enjoyed learning about the University of North Georgia’s (UNG) College of Education and its teacher preparation programs on Nov. 3.

Washington Post.
1) In one state, every class teaches climate change — even P.E.   Historically, climate change has not been comprehensively taught in U.S. schools, largely because of the partisanship surrounding climate change and many teachers’ limited grasp of the science. That started to change in 2013, with the release of new national science standards, which instructed science teachers to introduce students to climate change… Even in New Jersey, many teachers said they lacked confidence in their knowledge of the subject in a 2021 survey. 
2) It may take longer for some public servants to see student loan relief   For the last year, the Biden administration has allowed social workers, teachers and other public servants to retroactively receive credit toward debt cancellation regardless of their type of federal loan or payment plan. The reprieve ended Oct. 31 and has so far resulted in more than 247,000 people receiving $15 billion in debt cancellation…

WBEZ Chicago. Amid a national teacher shortage, UChicago appears to be dissolving its teacher training program   The university says it’s “pausing” admissions to its well-regarded grad program that trains teachers to work in urban districts like Chicago’s.

WZTV. Tennessee looks at dropping mandatory test for novice teachers, combatting staff shortages   The education teacher performance assessment (EDTPA) is a national test that was implemented about a decade ago. However, this could soon be a thing of the past in Tennessee due to recent teacher shortages. JC Bowman with the Professional Educators of Tennessee says, “It’s a impersonal, costly, subjective, it’s a drain in time, and it doesn’t predict good teaching.”

NEW YORK STATE
Buffalo Business First. Daemen University employs creative solutions to solve teacher shortage   Daemen University’s new graduate programs have also been revised – we have created six online graduate programs from two face-to-face graduate programs. Now, students can access every single program necessary for various certifications in New York state with a plan in place to convert new programs to the new students with disabilities all-grade certification. There is also a plan to address the gap in special education teachers, whereby Daemen programs will meet the requirements for all-grade certification for students with disabilities.

Chalkbeat. Here’s what Gov. Kathy Hochul’s win could mean for New York schools  In her first year in office, she oversaw significant developments in education, including boosting funding for schools and signing a bill that aims to limit class sizes in New York City schools…  To address the state’s looming teacher shortage, she expanded some alternative teacher certification programs. She also temporarily waived an income cap for retirees who want to return to the classroom. The situation could soon get dire as state teaching programs have seen enrollment drop by more than half since 2009, and about a third of current teachers are projected to retire in the next five years…

NYSED Board of Regents. November 2022 Meeting
* 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 State Museum. Native American Heritage Month: Online Exhibitions & Educator Resources

NEW YORK CITY
Teachers College.
1) Here’s How Indigenous Curriculum Can Help Students Thrive   Through her research of urban, Indigenous youth, postdoctoral fellow Rachel Talbert offers insight for educators to facilitate more honest, inclusive social studies curriculum
2) Inflation Threatens Equity. Here’s How. We chatted with just some Teachers College experts on how inflation may affect education, food access and mental health. In addition to inflation’s effect on teachers, student loan debt is continuing to raise challenges for students pursuing higher education, particularly those from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds.
3) TC Veterans You Need to Know: Meet members of the TC community who served in the U.S. military — and learn what motivates them — in honor of Veteran’s Day   Major Freeman … began her teaching career when guiding cadets through basic training and went on to become an Assistant Professor of Military Science in the ROTC program at UCLA… “I thought I would learn to become a better teacher,” says the major. “But talking so much about social justice taught me to look at the big picture – knowledge I can use to raise awareness at West Point.”

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Oct. 31 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
Boston College. BC’s Lynch School takes center stage: Two major conferences draw education leaders from across the nation and around the world   The Global Education Deans’ Forum resumed in-person meetings after a two-year, pandemic-driven hiatus on October 19-21 when the Lynch School welcomed the international organization of schools of education leaders.  Twenty-four deans from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Lynch School’s Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education Lin Goodwin, former dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong, attended. 

DutchNews. More students sign up for teacher training at college   …the increase in popularity of a teaching degree is probably down to government measures – in particular help with tuition fees – and the hefty increase in teachers’ pay agreed this summer. 

UNESCO.
1) 2022 South Asia Report dialogue non-state actors in teacher education. Hybrid meeting. [11 November – 3:00 – 5:00 pm]
2) Global education monitoring report 2022, South Asia: non-state actors in education: who chooses? who loses?  * Inadequate supply and quality of public education, combined with parental aspirations, have driven private education expansion from early childhood to tertiary education. About a third of students in India and Pakistan, and a quarter in Nepal are in private schools that receive no state assistance. Over 90% of teacher education institutions in India are funded only by fee.

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat.
1) A look inside Colorado’s yearslong push to change how schools teach reading   Several prominent teacher preparation programs have revamped their reading coursework. And prospective elementary teachers must now pass a separate exam on reading instruction to earn their state licenses.
2) I’m a social studies teacher: We are all responsible for struggling readers.   Teachers need adequate training to identify those with dyslexia. Students need access to diagnostic testing and to the research-based methods shown to be most effective in teaching students with dyslexia.
3) Sweeping research effort tackles big question: How to get tutoring that works to more kids   The programs being studied include: * Deans for Impact, a nonprofit focused on teacher training, which will work with teacher prep programs to train and pair aspiring teachers with students… * Great Oaks Foundation, which will recruit and train young people to be placed in schools for a year to tutor students in math and reading through AmeriCorps. * Matheka, a math tutoring company, which will recruit and train bilingual tutors from Latin America… Huffman hopes the research will help show whether it’s possible to train high schoolers, parents, college students, and pre-service teachers to effectively tutor students in large numbers.
4) To address teacher shortages, Tennessee may drop major test for many teacher candidates   The proposal to drop edTPA, which would take effect next September, is among numerous ways Tennessee is trying to increase its teacher pool after seeing a gradual decline in the number of aspiring educators graduating from the state’s 40-plus teacher training programs.

EdSource. New literacy standards for teacher candidates could be pivotal to improving student reading scores   A set of new literacy standards and teaching performance expectations, approved by the California commission that issues teaching credentials, should ensure all universities are on the same page when it comes to training future educators… The literacy standards, mandated by state legislation, put a greater emphasis on teaching foundational reading skills that include phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and fluency.

EdWeek.
1) Apprenticeships Are the New Frontier of Teacher Preparation. Here’s How They Work   The U.S. Departments of Labor and Education have urged states and school districts to create and register apprenticeship programs for teaching, which comes with federal funding that can pay for on-the-job training, wages, and other supportive services, such as textbooks or child care. At a time when many states are lowering standards to fill classroom vacancies, advocates point to apprenticeship models as a way to expand the pool of potential teachers without sacrificing quality. 
2) As Charter Schools Rise, Fewer Graduate From Undergrad Teacher Prep. Why?   The paper, published by the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), analyzed data from 290 school districts with at least one commuter college nearby. The researchers found that increasing a district’s charter school enrollment by 10 percent seemed to decrease the supply of teachers prepared in an undergraduate university-based education program, on average, by about 14 percent… The study’s results show a connection, not a definitive cause-and-effect relationship. 
3) Educators, You’re the Real Experts. Here’s How to Defend Your Profession   Nothing is more educative than the act of teaching. People who disrespect educators do not realize that those in K-12 education learn from every moment of teaching. They experience countless opportunities to refine what is learned in their teacher education years. 
4) Nation’s Second-Largest School System Plans to ‘Embrace’ the Science of Reading   Carvalho… called on school districts to take action and on educator preparation programs to instruct teachers in evidence-based approaches… Last year, the state mandated that colleges and universities demonstrate they’re preparing teachers to deliver “foundational reading skills” instruction.
5) New Guide Pairs Research and Policy on Recruiting, Retaining Teachers of Color   The book is organized into 11 domains of inquiry, breaking down each of the factors involved when implementing successful programs and policies for recruiting and retaining local educators of color. These domains include program design in teacher preparation and other training, the role of minority-serving institutions, human resource development and induction, mentorship, and more.

Forbes. The First 50 Days: A Brand New Teacher Finds Her Footing Thanks To The Power Of Mentors   …Teach Charleston, the school district’s in-house teacher recruitment, preparation and development program. Rooted in local context, the program made Charleston County Schools the first district in the state to develop its own teachers. The new teachers must commit to live and teach in Charleston County for at least 3 years.

Hechinger Report
. In one giant classroom, four teachers manage 135 kids – and love it   Five years ago, faced with high teacher turnover and declining student enrollment, Westwood’s leaders decided to try something different. Working with professors at Arizona State University’s teachers college, they piloted a classroom model known as team teaching.

Long Beach Post. LBUSD has a plan to diversify its workforce by hiring from its own student body   The LBUSD has partnered with Long Beach City College for a program called Grow Your Own, which will give students at Poly, Millikan, and Jordan a chance to start taking education-related classes at LBCC while still enrolled in high school with the goal of speeding them toward a career in teaching.

National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH). How Do Charter Schools Affect the Supply of Teachers from University-Based Education Programs?   Our data allow us to break the result down further. We examined effects on the number of teachers of different racial groups and found that the effects exist for both white and Black teachers. The effect was larger for Black teachers – a 17% drop versus 11% for white teachers

NYTimes. What Do American’s Middle Schools Teach About Climate Change? Not Much.   Some states, including Washington, California, and Maine are turning to teacher training programs. National science educators have lauded ClimeTime as one of the best efforts. The program receives several million dollars a year in state funding. Since 2018, it has trained 14,000 teachers, or more than a fifth of the teachers in Washington state.

Washington Post. Loan company distances itself from GOP-led states’ student debt suit   Until now, MOHELA has remained silent on the states’ lawsuit… MOHELA is the primary servicer for borrowers pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness, a federal program for teachers, firefighters and other public servants.

WHYY. How a therapy once seen as a victory for autistic kids has come under fire as abuse   These days, a growing number of ABA therapists are becoming accredited through online training programs that not only face quality issues, but have failed to adopt the kinds of changes Juarez and his team are advocating for… Juarez first encountered ABA in the late 90s while studying to become a special education teacher at the University of North Texas, which boasted one of the country’s first undergraduate programs for behavior analysis. 

NEW YORK STATE
New York State Education Department.
1) New York Teacher Surprised with Prestigious Milken Educator Award and $25,000   Garvey earned a bachelor’s in English literature and inclusive childhood and middle childhood education from Nazareth College in 2011 and a master’s in literacy education from SUNY Oneonta in 2021.
2) Office of Higher Education Educator Preparation Newsletter October 2022
* Board of Regents Items: Student Teaching. School Building Leader. Computer Science.
* Empire State Teacher Residency Program Request for Applications (RFA)
* AAQEP Teacher Performance Assessment Collaboration Days
* NYSATE/NYACTE Conference Presentations

NEW YORK CITY
Bank Street College. Online event Recruiting for Residencies: Possibilities for Today & Tomorrow. [Nov. 16, 2022, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST]

Teachers College. These Alumni Award Honorees Are Trailblazers: The seven honorees will be recognized at the State of the College on Nov. 16   Min Hong (M.A. ’91, Ed.M. ’98, Ed.D. ’03) is a 32-year veteran of the New York City Department of Education, serving as a teacher, literacy coach, administrator, and now as a principal of Bronx S.T.E.M. & Arts Academy… Hong was honored as a MetLife Fellow for her excellence as a culturally responsive educator by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Oct. 24 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
EduGraph. SCERT: Delhi Government sets up a new block   According to officials, the Delhi government has built a brand-new building with cutting-edge amenities to train in-service teachers at the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT)…Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister, opened the teacher training centre and declared that the new facilities would raise the bar for teacher preparation in the city to “new heights.”

New York Times. Evidence ‘Invalidated’ in Explosive Report on Mexico’s 43 Missing Students: This summer, the government said it had uncovered what happened during the 2014 mass abduction. Arrest warrants quickly followed. But since then, the criminal case and the new acc…   The victims — students at a rural teachers college in Ayotzinapa, a poor community in southern Mexico — were at the core of his base of support. The deeply flawed investigation under Mr. Peña Nieto fed a broader wave of discontent with the political establishment in Mexico, which favored the outsider candidacy of Mr. López Obrador and helped sweep him into power in 2018.

Open Polytechnic [NZ]. New programmes being launched by the Open Polytechnic are using an innovative network approach to widen national access to initial teacher education.    Following approval from the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and NZQA, Open Polytechnic, a subsidiary of Te Pūkenga, is offering a suite of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes. The programmes have been created with the purpose of opening accessibility to teacher training for ākonga (learners) in the community where they are based; enabling ākonga to enrol and study by open distance and flexible learning from anywhere in Aotearoa. 

UNITED STATES
AACTE. AACTE Report Examines Education Censorship in Institutions of Higher Ed   “As White argues, teacher education programs are at particular risk, even in states where censorship laws ostensibly target only K-12 schools. These laws disrupt equitable practices in teacher training programs, restrict the academic freedom of faculty and students, and contribute to the worsening national teacher shortage.”

Chalkbeat. I want to be a teacher. What do I need to know for my first interviews?   Be prepared with reference letters, practice your answers to possible questions, and think about times you solved problems in the classroom.

InsideHigherEd
1) Academic Minute: Making the Teaching Profession More Attractive    The University of South Carolina’s Henry Tran, associate professor in education leadership, examines how to develop more. [2 1/2 minute audio]
2) How Higher Ed Can Help Remedy K-12 Learning Losses: Low national scores have spurred discussion of how K-12 schools can improve student performance. Experts think institutions of higher education can help.   Nikki Edgecombe, senior research scholar at the Community College Research Center, part of Columbia University’s Teachers College, said that virtually every college across the country, from prestigious research institutions to rural community colleges, can do something right now to support its local school system. That might mean providing teachers with professional development, creating curricula or even providing resources to help schools meet their students’ needs for such essentials as food, mental health care and technology.
3) Permanent Fixes for a ‘Broken System’: More than $14 billion in federal student loans have been forgiven under the program in the last year since the administration streamlined the process. The changes will now become permanent.    “The Biden-Harris team is as committed as ever to upholding the promise of PSLF and ensuring borrowers who devote their careers to teaching our children, strengthening our communities and serving our nation get the relief they’ve earned.”

Education Week.
1) Immigrant Teacher’s Memoir Sheds Light on What English Learners Need   The way we are teaching now is using core content in order to teach the second language process. And so that’s definitely something that is growing out there, there’s still so much work to be done. But when you walk into ESL classrooms, or classrooms that are teaching English as a second language, you will see rich and robust ways that students are acquiring the language.
2) States Are Desperate for Special Ed. Teachers. But They Can’t Cut Corners to Get Them   In the face of teacher shortages, many states have lowered licensing standards to get teachers in classrooms as quickly as possible. But here’s a Catch-22: they can’t do that with special education teachers. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law on educating students with disabilities, requires that special education teachers be “appropriately and adequately prepared and trained” and “have the content knowledge and skills to serve children with disabilities.” 
3) With Their Licenses in Jeopardy, Florida Teachers Unsure How the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law Will Be Applied   Part of the concern stems around how severe losing a license can be for teachers. It’s not just losing a job; it can be career-ending.

FutureEd. In Demand: The Real Teacher Shortages and How to Solve Them   Because the teacher-production pipeline has always been leaky, with sharp drop-offs between matriculation and graduation, completion and licensure, and licensure and hiring, the recent focus on applications to teacher-training programs doesn’t provide a true picture of teacher supply. What’s more, there is no clear information tying the decline in ed-school applications to need. The reductions may be in grade levels and subject areas where there is a surfeit of teachers.

Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC).   The Fugitive Life of Black Teaching: A History of Pedagogy and Power with Dr. Jarvis Givens [Thursday, November 10, 2022 4:00.p.m. – 5:00.p.m. PST Via Zoom]

Los Angeles Times. After O.C. school district bans critical race theory, it faces Cal State Fullerton backlash   Months after an Orange County school district banned teaching critical race theory, Cal State Fullerton has told school officials it is pausing placement of its student teachers in the system’s K-12 classrooms, citing concerns that district policies conflict with university goals that promote equity and inclusion in education.

Michigan Business. Gov. Whitmer Launches Michigan’s First-Ever Fellowships For Future Educators, Stipends For Student Teachers   Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that applications for $10,000 scholarships for up to 2,500 future Michigan educators and $9,600 payments for student teachers will open on October 31. By lowering the cost of higher education, the state can hire and train more qualified teachers.

New York Times. Times Opinion wants to hear from you and from the teachers, law enforcement officers and parents who are directly affected by the threat of gun violence in schools. Is arming teachers the best way to protect students from school shootings?

Saginaw Valley State Univ. SVSU sees enrollment growth in teacher certification students and highest GPA for incoming freshmen   SVSU has 146 students pursuing teacher certification, up from 126 last year, including 23 new students who are employees of Saginaw Public Schools and enrolled through a new partnership between SVSU and the school district. All of these students have previously completed bachelor’s degrees and want to become certified teachers.

The 74. Thousands of Native Students Go to Albuquerque Schools. Most Will Never Have a Native Teacher: District officials started a state-funded pilot program this school year to hire more Native American teachers   State and district education officials cite a number of programs centered around pipeline development, but none of them target Native people in particular, and most don’t target high schoolers. There’s the district’s teacher residency program, which pairs people pursuing a degree in education with an experienced co-teacher at a high-need school for 15 months. Residents agree to teach within the district for an additional three years after completing the state-funded program, which the district runs in partnership with UNM and the Albuquerque Teachers Federation. 

Washington Post.
1) Adele tells fans her next move: She wants to get a college degree   She told fans in Los Angeles this week that McDonald had made her “fall in love with books,” adding, “if I hadn’t made it in my singing, I think I would definitely be a teacher.”
2) More public servants could get a chance at student debt relief: With the Public Service Loan Forgiveness waiver set to end, the Education Department said it is working to continue to help borrowers   A year-long waiver of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program gave teachers, social workers and other public servants credit for payments that previously did not qualify for relief. The reprieve — which ends Monday — resulted in more than 236,000 people receiving $14 billion in debt cancellation, according to the department.
3) Student loan relief to move ahead despite hold, education secretary says   The Biden administration is moving “full speed ahead” in preparing for the implementation of its plans for widespread student debt forgiveness, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Saturday, a day after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the loans from being immediately canceled.

NEW YORK STATE
NYS Dept of Labor. Governor Hochul Announces $30 Million Empire State Teacher Residency Program to Increase Teacher Support and Retention   This program will provide matching funding for local public school districts and/or Boards of Cooperative Educational Services to create two-year residency opportunities for graduate-level K-12 teacher candidates. The program will provide $30 million in funding to subsidize master’s degree or teaching certification programs for qualified residency program candidates.

2022 NYSATE/NYACTE Annual Fall Conference Program. Seeking Solidarity: Preparing Educators in and for Challenging Times [Gideon Putnam Resort, Saratoga Springs, NY October 27-28, 2022]

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. NAEP scores show record drop in math for New York City’s fourth graders, but not in reading   At one Bronx middle school whose students were part of the NAEP testing pool…Educators licensed in other subjects, such as math, had to fill in, meaning they didn’t always have enough time to plan lessons for their other courses…

The New Yorker. Welcome to the Banks Administration: New York’s schools chancellor has big goals — and some powerful family connections.   Next month, during the annual Somos el Futuro political conference held in San Juan, Banks says he plans to meet with local officials to help recruit Puerto Rican bilingual teachers to come work in New York.

Categories
Teacher Education

Week of Oct. 17 in Teacher Ed News

GLOBAL
GOV.UK £180 million to improve children’s development in the early years   Today’s package of support, which will benefit pre-school children all over England, includes:.. Graduate-level specialist training leading to early years teacher status – evidence is very clear that higher qualifications are consistently identified as a predictor of higher quality and associated with better child outcomes;..

The West Australian. South Hedland student-teacher selected for international symposium on Indigenous-led teaching training    A Hedland-based Curtin University student teacher has been selected to attend an international symposium on Indigenous-led teaching training in Canada.

UNESCO
. Launch of Leveraging Education Analysis for Results Network (LEARN)   A number of areas will be highlighted where common action can benefit Member States, including for instance on learning assessment, textbook development or initial teacher education programmes.

UNITED STATES
AACTE.
1) 75th Annual Meeting Innovation Through Inspiration. February 24 – 26 in Indianapolis, IN. [Register by the December 31 to take advantage of the early bird rate]
2) HPU’s Stout School of Education Receives Nearly $10 Million Teacher Quality Partnership Grant: The U.S. Department of Education Grant Will Fund Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Education for Principals Programs.   High Point University’s Stout School of Education is a recipient of a nearly $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund two graduate programs for teachers and principals for the next five years. The school will receive $9,786,041, the second largest federal Teacher Quality Partnership grant awarded to 22 universities in the nation.

AAQEP. 2023 AAQEP Quality Assurance Symposium [February 22-23, Indianapolis]

Chalkbeat.
1) How student loan borrowers can take advantage of President Biden’s forgiveness plan   Student loan borrowers across the country will have until December 2023 to apply for up to $20,000 in forgiveness from the federal government. 
2) Most Colorado K-3 teachers finish science of reading training   The state took a two-pronged approach to fixing the problem — targeting both existing teachers and teachers-in-training. Besides mandating the K-3 teacher training as part of the reading law, the state pushed Colorado’s teacher preparation programs to purge debunked reading methods and ensure coursework included scientifically based approaches to reading instruction.
3) Tutoring and teacher retention top Whitmer’s education agenda as she seeks second term    Her mother and grandmother were teachers. Her grandfather was superintendent of the Pontiac School District. Both she and her children attended Michigan public schools… Supporters at a recent campaign rally in Trenton, downriver from Detroit, said they appreciate Whitmer’s focus on teacher recruitment and retention at a time of worsening staff shortages and declining interest in teacher preparation programs. 
4) Tutoring grants of up to $1,000 for Indiana students to roll out Oct. 15   Some school districts are also providing tutoring services using their own teaching staff, like Knox schools, which will offer in-person tutoring with certified teachers to its 25 eligible students.

Daily Business Review. Controversial rules for schools get official go-ahead from Florida Board of Education   During an at-times heated meeting, the state board also signed off on a separate rule that could lead to teachers losing their licenses for violating two controversial new

EdPrepLab. Virtual Fall Forum 2022 [Wed, October 26, 11:30 AM – 2:45 PM ET]

EdWeek.
1) 3 Big Challenges to Expanding Computer Science Classes and How to Overcome Them   The Chicago school district, which made computer science a graduation requirement several years ago, has worked with research institutions to develop a sequence of courses to help teachers feel comfortable leading introductory classes. Issues remain, however, because the training doesn’t prepare educators to teach more advanced computer science classes…
2) 3 Big Mistakes to Avoid When Helping Readers Grapple With Challenging Texts   …highlighted tactics to avoid and offered better alternatives for teachers to support students as they tackle difficult texts.
3) 5 Strategies States Are Using to Fill Teacher Shortages   1. Dropping requirements for bachelor’s degrees 2. Easing certification requirements 3. Bringing retired teachers back 4. Relying on emergency certification 5. Hiring professionals from other fields
4) School Districts Look Overseas to Fill Teacher Shortages   With the exception of 2020, which saw a considerable dip due to the pandemic, the number of international teachers employed by U.S. districts jumped by 69 percent—from 2,517 in 2015 to 4,271 in 2021… only teachers with a minimum of two years teaching or similar professional experience can apply for a J-1visa
5) Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff: Easily Find Your Next Education Job [October 27 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM EDT]
6) Why the Gates Foundation Is Investing $1.1 Billion in Math Education   The goals: More and better trained math teachers, a new trove of engaging and effective teaching materials, and a clearer sense of how to teach a subject that many students now find dry and intimidating.

Hechinger Report.
1) English language teachers are scarce. One Alabama town is trying to change that   The Russellville school district is using federal pandemic funds to train and certify new English language teachers for its growing student population of Spanish speakers, and encouraging the state to invest too
2) Uncertified teachers filling holes in schools across the South: Patchwork approach could leave children with unprepared educators  Officials must determine if it’s better to hire these adults, even if they aren’t fully prepared, or let children end up in crowded classes or with substitutes… By 2030, as many as 16 million K-12 students in the region may be taught by an unprepared or inexperienced teacher, the Southern Regional Education Board projects.

New York Times. Teenagers and Misinformation: Some Starting Points for Teaching Media Literacy   Five ideas to help students understand the problem, learn basic skills, share their experiences and have a say in how media literacy is taught.

Washington Post.
1) An explosion of culture-war laws is changing schools. Here’s how.   Pondiscio said he believes these measures are a necessary corrective to the recent sway that progressives have achieved in education, partly by training teachers to act as agents of social justice who encourage children to make the world a more equal place.
2) Beta launch of student loan forgiveness application website opens for borrowers   The application is set to open to all borrowers later this month.
3) How to diversify America’s teaching corps   Patching the leaks would enable greater numbers of aspiring teachers to complete their preparation programs, become fully certified and licensed, and find schools in which they are culturally affirmed and sustained…
4) Judge dismisses GOP-led states’ lawsuit to block student-loan forgiveness plan   The ruling by Autrey, a George W. Bush appointee, was one of two victories Thursday for the administration’s plan. In a separate case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett denied a request by the conservative legal outfit Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, working on behalf of a taxpayer’s association, to pause the program.
laws.

NEW YORK STATE
New York State Register (Oct. 19, 2022). Student Teaching Requirements for Registered Teacher Preparation Programs and Through the Individual Evaluation Pathway  Purpose: To extend for one year the timeline for programs to implement the new student teaching requirements, and to make amendments to such requirements and the student teaching requirements for the individual evaluation pathway to certification. Data, views or arguments may be submitted to: William P. Murphy, Deputy Commissioner, NYS Education Department, Office of Higher Education, 89 Washington Avenue, Room 975 EBA, Albany, NY 12234, (518) 473-3781, email: [email protected] Public comment will be received until: 60 days after publication of this notice.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. New York City grapples with influx of new asylum-seeking students   Facing a shortage of bilingual educators, the city recently announced hiring teachers from the Dominican Republic… Over the past decade, the city has failed to comply with a state-issued corrective action plan focused on students learning English as a new language. For example, the city has failed to provide legally required services to all bilingual students with disabilities, largely because there aren’t enough trained bilingual educators.