Tag: teacher educator

GLOBAL
OneIndia. Gender neutral teacher training manual: Rectify anomalies says NCPCR.  The new manual for teachers aims to educate and sensitise them towards the LGBTQ+ community and different gender orientations. It highlights practices and strategies to make schools sensitive and inclusive for transgender and gender non-conforming children.

Teachers Task Force.
1) 13th International Policy Dialogue Forum [1-3 December; Kigali, Rwanda and on-line]
2) Qualified teachers urgently needed – What TIMSS data reveal about teacher training and student learning.  The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an international assessment of student achievement, can shed light on teacher quality. 

UNITED STATES
AACTE. Board of Directors Election Now Open through Nov. 30. [sign-in required]

Chalkbeat. First 8 Memphis gives $1M to NEXT Memphis to strengthen early education   NEXT Memphis is a shared services child care initiative housed at Porter Leath that provides high-quality education and health services for children, including advice from early childhood experts, training and support for teachers, and business assistance for child care centers. 

Daily Citizen. Dodge County schools work to solve substitute teacher shortage.  A traditional sub must be licensed through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as a teacher or a substitute teacher. Anyone without a license must possess an associate’s degree or higher and participate in 8 hours of substitute teacher training.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram. This program is raising wages, quality in the child care workforce. Here’s how it works   In Tarrant County, where only 21% of licensed child care providers are part of a quality rating and improvement system, the apprenticeship program facilitated by Camp Fire … Lyn Lucas, the senior vice president of Early Education and Program Evaluation for Camp Fire First. “Apprenticeships have long been the answer to industry shortages in all kinds of industries, and right now we know that we have a serious shortage of quality early education teachers.”

NEAToday.
1) ‘Grow Your Own’ Programs Produce Pathways for ESPs: Recruiting education support professionals to pursue teaching certification creates career growth and educator diversity in school communities.   The programs are designed to harvest promising teacher candidates from local communities and school systems to not only offer a career path for education support professionals (ESPs) but to create a more diverse teaching force that reflects the student population.
2) Substitute Teacher Shortage Causes More School Disruptions  Some districts are raising pay for subs, others are loosening requirements for substitute teachers… In its emergency licensing order, Oregon is allowing people with just a high school diploma now to be substitutes with some training

NYTimes.
1) Republicans Pounce on Schools as a Wedge Issue to Unite the Party  “It’s going to be incumbent on Democrats to have a compelling response,” said Mr. Garin, who worked as a pollster for Mr. McAuliffe during his 2013 campaign for governor. “They also need to be prepared to assert the value of public education in terms of a place where there’s a common curriculum and common set of values that most voters agree are the right ones for public schools.”
2) California Tries to Close the Gap in Math, but Sets Off a Backlash: Proposed guidelines in the state would de-emphasize calculus, reject the idea that some children are naturally gifted and build a connection to social justice. Critics say math shouldn’t .   Divya Chhabra, a middle school math teacher in Dublin, Calif., said the state should focus more on the quality of instruction by finding or training more certified, experienced teachers.

Washington Post. Youngkin pledged more parental control of education, but changes may prove difficult   To grant parents radically increased say in what or how teachers teach, Youngkin would have to overhaul the structure of American public-school education in Virginia, which is now determined by state standards and elected school boards that represent all residents of a district, not just parents.

NEW YORK STATE
Commisssion on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU). Support Future Teachers and Urge Gov. Hochul to Sign Graduate Admissions Reform   These two bills will remove arbitrary barriers that disproportionately affect students of color who want to be teachers.  With this legislation New York can increase teacher diversity and remove a discriminatory barrier to graduate admissions.

NYS Legislature.
1) Senate Bill S5666 has been delivered to Governor Hochul   Relates to the maximum percentage of students that can be exempted from the admission requirements for graduate-level teacher and educational leader programs
2) Senate Bill S6600 has been delivered to Governor Hochul  Relates to SUNY admission requirements for graduate-level teacher and educational leader programs

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. There aren’t enough men teaching elementary school. Here’s how we can change that — and why we must.   I enrolled in an elementary education program after a teacher friend of mine inspired me with her words: “There’s not enough of you in education, especially in elementary schools. We need people like you!”… This past May, I wrapped up my first semester as an adjunct professor at the City College of New York’s Childhood Education Department, where out of 19 students studying to teach grades 1-6, only two were male. This semester, I have one male student out of 15.

Pix11 News. Lawmakers work to slash class size at NYC schools   It would require the city purchasing or leasing new educational space or adding access to buildings as well as hiring about 13,000 new teachers.

Teachers College. The Peace Corps Celebrates Top-Enrolling Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program Institutions [incl. Jaffe Peace Corps Fellows Program at Teachers College]  First established in 1985 at Teachers College at Columbia University, the Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program has grown to include more than 120 higher education partners in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

 

GLOBAL
Association for Teacher Education in Europe [ATEE]. The programme of the ATEE 2021 Conference – online on 28 & 29 October – is now live!

London Review of Education. Call for Papers: Rising to the challenge of teacher education to prepare teachers for today’s world [Deadline for draft papers: 30 June 2022]

Sydney Morning Herald. ‘The joy of teaching’: Plan to find 3700 new teachers to plug school shortage   The NSW Department of Education will promote the joy of teaching, poach teachers from overseas and identify regional students suitable for the profession while they are still in high school as part of a multi-pronged plan to avert a looming teacher shortage.

The Guardian [Nigeria]. Improved teacher education will solve problems in the sector, says provost   Provost, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Ijanikin, Prof B.B Lafiaji-Okuneye, has assured that with improved teacher education, the college will help in fixing the challenges confronting the sector.

UNITED STATES
Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation [AAQEP]. Quality Assurance Symposium: March 22-24, 2022 [early bird registration through Nov. 19, 2021]

Chalkbeat. Black teacher workforce declined sharply as Michigan students left city districts — study   The state education department has mounted several efforts to attract and retain more African American educators, from encouraging students to return to their home districts as teachers to supporting alternative certification programs, which offer a fast track into the teaching profession. Such programs have proved appealing to would-be educators who are Black at a time when the number of Black students entering traditional teacher prep programs has fallen. In Detroit, training programs for district support staff have already put dozens of people, many of them African American, into classrooms for the first time.

Council of Graduate Schools.  Graduate Enrollment and Degrees 2010 to 2020.  Consistent with previous survey cycles, business (87,045), education (75,083), and health sciences (67,126) were the three largest broad fields for first- time graduate enrollment in Fall 2020. These three broad fields collectively represented 45% of first- time graduate enrollments

EdWeek. Advice to New Teachers From a 20-Year Veteran: 7 lessons I’ve learned from two decades in the classroom

Hechinger Report. Funding and training is rarely available when your child care is friends, neighbors   Unlike licensed child care workers, FFN providers do not need to follow state child care regulations or meet health and safety requirements — unless they receive state-funded subsidies to provide care for a lower-income child. They are also not required to undergo any formal child development training before they begin to care for children.

Milwaukee Neighborhood New Service. Trouble finding child care? You’re not alone, and here’s why.    Johnson said she would like to see investment in teacher prep programs such as the Milwaukee Teacher Education Center, or MTEC, and the Literacy Lab. She said doing so would help ensure a steady supply of qualified teachers to keep early childhood education centers enrolling closer to their licensed capacity.

NEW YORK STATE
NYSED Board of Regents Meeting, Oct. 18-19
Higher Education Subcommittee.
*Proposed Amendment to Sections 52.21, 57-4.5, and 80-1.13 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to Removing the Face-to-Face Instruction Requirement for the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) Training
*Proposed Amendment to Section 50.1(l) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Definition of “University” 
Feb. 2021: “University means a higher educational institution offering a range of registered undergraduate and graduate curricula in the liberal arts and sciences and doctoral programs registered in at least three of the following discipline areas: agriculture, biological sciences, business, education, engineering, fine arts, health professions, humanities, physical sciences, and social sciences.”
Oct. 2021 following public comment: “University means a higher educational institution offering a range of registered undergraduate and graduate curricula in the liberal arts and sciences, including graduate programs registered in at least three of the following discipline areas: agriculture, biological sciences, business, education, engineering, fine arts, health professions, humanities, physical sciences and social sciences.”
*Recognition of the Board of Regents and Commissioner of Education as an Institutional Accrediting Agency   VOTED: That the Board of Regents will not submit an application for renewal of recognition by the Secretary of Education as an institutional accrediting agency at the expiration of the current term of recognition on May 9, 2023.

NYPost. More than 20K public school staffers across New York aren’t fully certified   NYSED’s Emergency COVID-19 Certificate allows applicants to “work in New York State public schools or districts for two years while taking and passing the required exam(s) for the certificate or extension sought,” according to the agency’s website. Previously, aspiring educators and other employees had to complete their certification entirely before working with students.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. With NYC’s ‘gifted’ program headed for overhaul, here’s what some experts say should come next   With training and support, many teachers can meet the needs of most students in their classroom, he said. But in many of the schools and districts he works with, “it winds up being implemented really inconsistently,” especially with newer teachers.

New York Magazine. Will Ending Gifted and Talented Programs Help Desegregate Schools?   “Even though Gifted and Talented education is my field of study, I can’t really bring myself to shed a tear over their demise,” said James Borland of Teachers College at Columbia University, who studies the effects of these programs on economically disadvantaged students. “For years they were bordering on disgrace. It was a really disturbing difference between the makeup of regular classrooms and the Gifted and Talented classrooms. It’s been that way for a number of years, and the department hasn’t really done anything that I’m aware of to remedy the situation. So there is no choice other than to pull the plug on the whole thing.”… Brilliant NYC… will aim to offer accelerated learning to all 65,000 kindergarteners. To do so, the mayor said, the city will retrain all of the city’s kindergarten teachers in addition to hiring new ones.

 

 

GLOBAL
CBC News. Ontario announces new Indigenous curriculum for Grades 1-3   However, those changes have been criticized, both for the lack of consultation in the lead-up to them, and for the amount of training teachers are given prior to being expected to teach the curriculum.

Education International. Improving the status of teachers through intelligent professionalism   The responses identified that status is affected by teacher pay and working conditions, is related to workplace stress, influences the attractiveness of teaching as a career for young people and impacts whether qualified teachers want to remain in the classroom. 

International Task Force on Teachers. Teachers in Crisis Contexts: We must invest in their strengths, not rest on them [by Danni Falk and Chris Henderson from Teachers College, Columbia University.]  3. Enable teachers to support all learners by continuously investing in and dramatically improving the nature and quality of teacher preparation, continuous professional development, and sustained support.

NYTimes. GONE: Nearly 100,000 people have disappeared in Mexico. Their families now search for clues among the dead.   Among the most widely known examples: the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from a rural teachers’ college in the town of Ayotzinapa. An investigation under Enrique Peña Nieto, the president at the time, placed blame on a local drug cartel and the municipal police. But that explanation has been widely condemned by international experts, including the United Nations…

Washington Post. Millions of Indian kids have been out of school for 18 months. The break threatens decades of progress.   Some state governments have attempted to stem the mounting learning losses with local initiatives. In Odisha, a poor state on the eastern coast of the country, a government initiative supported by UNICEF connected trainee teachers with out-of-school kids in villages.

UNITED STATES
Chalkbeat.
1) ‘Alarming’ shortage of child care workers in Philadelphia prompts recruitment event   Jackson said that the minimum requirement for her center to keep its top rating from Keystone Stars is a high school diploma with two years of experience or a child development associate credential, or CDA, which can be obtained online and is the equivalent of nine college credits toward an early education degree.
2) Four reasons why schools are facing crippling shortages    Short-term bonuses can help, but make less of an impact in increasing the supply of teachers or other certified jobs like counseling that require longer-term training.

CivXNow. State Policy Menu   *Pre-service Teaching Requirements: States should strengthen pre-service requirements for civics teachers by requiring undergraduate courses in U.S. Government and U.S. History, as well as undergraduate course work in the unique pedagogy of history and civics. States should also implement a fellowship program to encourage humanities and social science graduates of color to join the social studies teaching profession.

Colorado NewsLine. Congress has a plan for universal pre-K. Will states opt in?   If the congressional plan grandfathers in a workforce that is not required to have a four-year degree, that could in turn affect the quality of education some children receive, he said. Often private or home-based day care providers have two-year degrees or high school diplomas. States would be able to decide on the teaching skills needed in order to bypass a degree requirement. 

Education Week.
1) Combating the Problems With Facebook and Instagram: 8 Tips for Teachers
2) I’m Back in the Classroom With a Ph.D. and Some Advice for Policymakers   I spent time with the elusive psychometricians who created those value-added models of teacher performance. (Turns out, many of them were not thrilled their models were used to judge teacher quality, particularly when the models were attached to pay-for-performance schemes.)… The university where I work, like others, has been seeing declining enrollment in teacher-preparation programs.

Inside Higher Ed. Change Comes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Most of the reforms are temporary, but they’ll still help hundreds of thousands of borrowers chart a renewed path toward loan forgiveness.   The overhaul is intended to fulfill a “largely unmet” promise to wipe away the student debt of teachers, military service members and others working in the public sector.

MarketScreener. Nation’s Largest College of Education Celebrates American Education Week with Scholarships for Current and Aspiring Teachers.  Western Governors University’s (WGU) Teachers College will mark the National Education Association’s (NEA) 2021 American Education Week Nov. 15-19 by announcing its WGU Loves Teachers and Become a Teacher scholarship programs, together totaling $6 million, for current and future education professionals who wish to pursue bachelor’s or master’s degree programs in the Teachers College. 

National Academy of Education. Evaluating and Improving Teacher Preparation Programs: Commissioned Paper Series   As part of the Evaluating and Improving Teacher Preparation Programs project, this commissioned paper series covers key aspects of teacher preparation and evaluation methods that support high-quality preparation and continuous program improvement.

NYTimes.
1) Lesson Plans and Teaching Ideas: Resources, strategies and ideas for teaching with The New York Times.
2) Troubled Student Loan Forgiveness Program Gets an Overhaul: The sweeping changes will help more than a half-million public service workers who had thought they were paying down their debt for years.   Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, which sued the Trump administration over its management of the program, said the measures would bring “urgently needed relief” and “overdue changes” that would help at least 200,000 of the union’s members.

Santa Fe New Mexican. New Mexico’s teacher-prep programs face challenges amid surging vacancies   Alternative pathways are associated with higher rates of diversity compared with traditional teaching programs, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics — but research from the Learning Policy Institute also shows that in Northern New Mexico, those finishing out alternative licenses often are underprepared. That lack of preparedness could be exacerbated this year as schools return to in-person learning through the pandemic…

U.S. Dept. of Education. U.S. Department of Education Announces Transformational Changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, Will Put Over 550,000 Public Service Workers Closer to Loan Forgiveness   … U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Teachers, nurses, first responders, servicemembers, and so many public service workers have had our back especially amid the challenges of the pandemic. Today, the Biden Administration is showing that we have their backs, too.”

The 74. A New Kind of Curriculum Night: Armed With Protest Signs and Data, Diverse Group of Minneapolis Parents Demands Better Reading Instruction for Their Kids   The report, along with follow-up pieces documenting teachers’ lack of awareness and explaining why colleges of education cling to discredited strategies for teaching reading — such as having students guess at a word after looking at pictures in a book — made Hanford a household name at dinner tables around the country. 

NEW YORK STATE
Press-Republican. SUNY Plattsburgh Teacher Education programs earn full accreditation.   SUNY Plattsburgh’s teacher education programs have been accredited for a full seven-year term by the Association for Advancing Quality in Education Preparation.

University at Albany. SOE Earns National Accreditation of Graduate Education Programs   The Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) has awarded full 7-year accreditation to the University at Albany’s graduate programs for school leadership, literacy educators, and special education preparation. The award includes a commendation for the literacy and special education programs (inclusive of the early childhood and childhood education programs).

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. NYC to eliminate ‘gifted’ test in overhaul of segregated program   Under the new model, the city will train roughly 4,000 teachers and hire additional teachers already versed in accelerated learning to work in neighborhoods with historically little to no gifted programming, city officials said Friday. The new program, called Brilliant NYC, will start in the fall of 2022 and will be phased into first and second grade the following years.

NYTimes. New York City to Phase Out Its Gifted and Talented Program: Students who are currently enrolled in gifted and talented classes will not be affected. But the highly selective and racially segregated program will be replaced for incoming students.   …the city will train all its kindergarten teachers — roughly 4,000 educators — to accommodate students who need accelerated learning within their general education classrooms.

Pix11. NYC DOE employees reassigned over vaccine mandates say students, schools are shortchanged     They are vaccinated, trained specialists who say that a DOE policy related to the mandate reassigned them to schools to teach and to do other classroom educational tasks, even though they’re not classroom educators. Instead, they’re data analysts, social workers, guidance counselors, researchers and others who are connected to the DOE central office.

GLOBAL
Counter Punch. “Compulsory Irish”: the Place of the Irish Language in Ireland’s Post-Colonial Education System    The programme failed to be implemented effectively due to a lack of investment in teacher training, an under provision of additional physical spaces to teach the additional subjects, and a lack of democratic “buy in” by interested parties i.e. parents and the churches.

Irish Times. Why are there so few migrant teachers in Ireland?   One requirement at primary level is for all teachers, regardless of where they trained, to be able to teach through Irish. “For migrant teachers who did not train in Ireland, this is doable, but it takes about three years and they need to do an exam at the end of it,” says Campbell. “If they work on basic Irish and spend time at the Gaeltacht, they can pass, and there are a handful who are doing this every year.”

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  Building Digital Teaching Skills Among Teachers In The Caribbean   …in response to the significant needs of the education system in the region, UNESCO, Blackboard and the Caribbean Centre for Educational Planning (CCEP) at the University of the West Indies teamed up to launch the Education response to Covid-19: Distance Learning and Teacher Training Strategies in the Caribbean SIDS. With funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), this year-long project aims to strengthen the capacities of teachers and school leaders on digital skills and blended learning solutions. The goal is to train 10,000 teachers in the use of online education tools, resources and platforms.

UNITED STATES
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE). Consortium for Research-Based and Equitable Assessments   The Consortium for Research-Based and Equitable Assessments (CREA) is seeking your help to recruit teacher candidates, teachers, and faculty for its upcoming focus groups. The Consortium, which is comprised of educator preparation programs (EPPs) and state and local education agency representatives across 14 states, is examining the processes and considerations that states use to determine cut scores for entrance (i.e., Praxis Core) and teacher licensure examinations.

Chalkbeat. Tutors wanted: Inside the nationwide sprint to build big new programs to catch students up   Many programs are putting tutors through fairly rigorous training. Arkansas is requiring tutors to spend six hours learning about the science of reading and another six studying how to teach math. The Chicago, Dallas, and Denver area initiatives are paying college-age or adult tutors at least $20 an hour. Oklahoma is paying college students $25 an hour. Some are giving high school or college students course credit. And New Mexico is offering educator fellows a $4,000 stipend toward any degree in education, in the hopes of converting some into teachers or other school staff.

CivXNow. A Policy Agenda: Restoring Civic Education for Civic Strength   6. Investment in educator preparation in history and civics and diversification of the history and civics teaching corps, including development of an educator competency rubric and certification program to ensure that educators are recognized for achievement and supported in developing the skills required to teach history and civics

Hechinger Reports. Struggling readers need standards and structure based on the science of reading: Proven ways to close gaps and improve outcomes will help students catch up    There is a strong coalition of support behind the science of reading, even though it had yet to be reflected in conventional wisdom about reading instruction or widely utilized in U.S. classrooms or teacher preparation programs — until now. For the first time since the National Council on Teacher Quality began publishing teacher preparation program ratings, the number of programs that embrace the science of reading has crossed the halfway mark.

Teacher Stories. Inspiring Stories of Teachers Changing Lives   Our mission is to share stories about teachers who have elevated people’s lives, strengthened communities, inspired a passion for their subjects, and enabled students to attain what they thought was unattainable.

Washington Post. School superintendent asks: ‘Who would want to be a teacher right now?’   I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a large group of superintendents tasked with generating potential solutions. Here are some of the proposed strategies: *College loan forgiveness *Tax breaks *Housing assistance *Signing and loyalty bonuses *Limit what we expect from teachers to teaching and teaching only

NEW YORK STATE
NYSATE/NYACTE. 2021 NYSATE-NYACTE CONFERENCE   This year, we embark on a new venture: a progressive, online conference. Rather than schedule all activities intensively over a two to three day period, we are offering our conference events on separate occasions throughout the fall semester. 

New York State Education Department.
1) State Education Department Awards $3.45 Million in My Brother’s Keeper Grants for Teacher Opportunity Corps II: Grants Aimed at Expanding the Rate of Historically Underrepresented Individuals in Teaching Careers  [Teachers College is one of 17 grantees]    …the State Education Department seeks to invest in programs that bolster the retention of highly qualified individuals who value equity and reflect the diversity inside and outside of our classrooms, particularly in high-need schools with recurrent teacher shortages. 
2) Office of Higher Education September Newsletter.
* Regents Items: Emergency COVID-19 certificate, Permanent School Counselor Certificate Requirements, School Counselor Bilingual Education Extension, References to Institutional Accrediting Agencies.
* Certification Test Vouchers
* Impartial Hearing Officer System for Special Education Due Process In New York City Request for Information

NEW YORK CITY
ABC7. NYC schools unveil groundbreaking Black studies program for students in grades K-12   The nation’s largest school district unveiled a groundbreaking curriculum change to teach children about the history and contributions of Black Americans.

Chalklbeat. De Blasio insists substitutes will fill staff gaps caused by vaccine refusal. Some schools have doubts.   Students with disabilities might also lose out at the Brooklyn elementary school pulling a teacher out of ICT, which mandates two teachers, one of whom must be trained in special education to teach a mix of students with disabilities and general education students.

Teachers College. $3.25 Million Grant to Fund Development of Black Studies Curriculum for NYC Public Schools  TC’s Black Education Research Collective, led by Sonya Douglass Horsford, will play a lead role in a landmark initiative to develop an interdisciplinary K-12 Black studies curriculum

GLOBAL
Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE). Conference Proceedings 2020 ATEE Winter Conference: Teacher Education For Promoting Well-Being In School

Inside Higher Ed. Simple Rhetoric, Complicated Realities: What may be surprising is that the occupied regions of the West Bank and Gaza have become home to a vibrant, albeit struggling, network of postsecondary institutions   It may come as a surprise that from 1948 to 1967, when Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza, no new universities were established in those territories. (One agricultural school became a technical institute offering associate degrees during that period, one primary school became a teacher preparation institute and another teachers’ institute was established)… Al Aqsa University, founded in 1955 as a teachers’ college, became a university in 2001. 

NSW Government [AUS]. Training program to upskill assistant principals   The largest professional learning program in Australia for assistant principals and head teachers will begin next year to build leadership excellence and help lift student outcomes across public schools.

OECD. Education at a Glance 2021: Indicator D5. Who are the teachers?   With large proportions of teachers in many OECD countries set to reach retirement age in the next decade and the size of the school-age population projected to increase in some countries, governments will be under pressure to recruit and train new teachers. There is compelling evidence that the calibre of teachers is the most significant in-school determinant of student achievement, so concerted efforts are needed to attract top talent to the teaching profession and provide them with high-quality training

UNITED STATES
Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE). Calling All edTPA participants: Share Your Experiences with the Texas EdTPA Pilot and Receive an Amazon Gift Card

Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity.
1) Fall Workshop: Infographics as Assessment for Teacher Educators [Oct. 8, 2021]
2) Four Minority-Serving Institutions Across the Country Selected to Participate in Rigorous 3-year Program to Enhance Teacher Prep   Through BranchED’s one-of-a-kind Quality Preparation Framework, Azusa Pacific University, Pacific Oaks College, Texas A&M University–San Antonio and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke will spend the next three years strengthening their educator preparation programs (EPPs) to better prepare highly effective and diverse future educators.

Chalkbeat. The state or districts? Indiana lawmakers weigh who should have the authority to license teachers   Indiana lawmakers on Tuesday debated giving school districts the authority to license their own educators as a solution to ongoing teacher shortages… Indiana has several alternative paths to licensure, including a career specialists permit available to people with a certain amount of occupational experience plus a bachelor’s degree or licensure exam.

Cision. National University Taps Expert in Teacher Preparation to Lead College of Education   National University, a nonprofit university with a 50-year history of serving working adult learners, educators, and veterans, today announced the appointment of Dr. Robert Lee as dean of the Sanford College of Education, one of the largest colleges of education in the United States and the largest provider of teaching credentials in California. 

EdWeek. The Classroom-Management Field Can’t Stop Chasing the Wrong Goal   When we’re led to look for “effective” strategies without asking what exactly that word means, the default objective is less likely to be about promoting students’ social, ethical, and intellectual development than simply getting them to do whatever they’re told. That was true in 1996, when teachers were advised to train students as if they were pets by dropping marbles into a jar, a step to receiving a reward for following directions. And it’s true in 2021, when teachers are told to monitor students on an app and award points for obedience.

Laredo Morning Times. TAMIU selected to consortium addressing barriers to a diversified teaching workforce   Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) has been selected as a lead institution representing Texas in the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)’s Consortium for Research-Based and Equitable Assessments (CREA)… TAMIU Dean of the College of Education, Dr. James O’Meara, said TAMIU is in a uniquely qualified position to be part of the Consortium. “The impact of TAMIU teacher preparation is undeniable in South Texas. We prepare 100% of the traditionally trained teachers working in the schools within our 100-mile zone of influence (ZOI). ..”

Pearson Education. 2021-22 edTPA submission/reporting dates

Washington Post. ‘The pay is absolute crap’: Child-care workers are quitting rapidly, a red flag for the economy: Child care employment is still down more than 126,000 positions as workers leave for higher-paying positions as bank tellers, administrative assistants and ret.   Still, the top concern in the industry is how to raise pay. Among college graduates, those who major in early-childhood education earn the least out of 137 majors, according to a report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

NEW YORK STATE
Spectrum News NY 1. Emergency certification program for educators extended   An emergency certification program for New York educators was extended for a year by state education officials, two state lawmakers announced Wednesday. The extension will affect a wide variety of people in the education field, including teachers, librarians, school administrators, teaching assistants, school athletics coaches, GED instructors and jobs skills training instructors who are seeking certification or recertification.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. NYC schools brace for staffing shortages as vaccine mandate takes effect next week   Schools can hire certified teachers as “regular substitutes” for the remainder of the year, the letter stated. Additionally, staffers from the education department’s central offices — those with and without teaching licenses — were told this week that they might be redeployed to campuses for various school-based jobs.

Columbia University, Institute of Latin American Studies. Teaching Early Grade Literacy to Migrant Children from Central America and the Dominican Republic. A culturally relevant pedagogy-based guide  5pm Oct. 8, 2021

Teachers College.
1) Cowin Financial Literacy Program – Online Course  October 4 – November 20, 2021   Those who complete the 6-week course will receive 30 Clock Hours and 30 CTLE credits*
2) US News & World Report. 2022 Best Education Schools   Overall, TC ranks #9 (tie with Univ. of Michigan); #2 in Curriculum & Instruction; #6 in Educational Administration and Supervision Programs; #4 in Education Policy Programs

GLOBAL
BBC News. Teachers trained in Great Britain face NI work registration delay   Last week, it was reported that as many as 500 new teachers had not yet had their registrations fully processed by the GTCNI, an arm’s-length body of the Department of Education.

ERR News. Young people looking at teacher profession but would prefer to work abroad   On Thursday, the Riigikogu discussed the future of teachers in Estonia and how to value the role in society. While young people are considering studying to become a teacher, they would rather work abroad.

The Straits Times [Singapore]. Need for more teacher training and less stigma as demand for inclusive pre-schools grows   …need to adequately train teachers so they are able to effectively cater to children with special needs, as well as addressing the misgivings of parents who are wary of children with special needs learning alongside their typically developing children.

UNITED STATES
AACTE. Call for Manuscripts: The Teacher Educators’ Journal   The Teacher Educators’ Journal, is the journal of the newly formed Virginia Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (from the merging of ATE-Virginia and the Virginia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education). The journal is published once per year, in electronic form. 

Chalkbeat.
1) Just 32% of Philadelphia third graders read on grade level. Freedom Schools Literacy Academy could be a model to change that.   El-Mekki, founder of the Center for Black Educator Development, told Chalkbeat that using a community-based approach, one that involves an intergenerational model, adds capacity and strength in teaching youth how to read. It’s also linked to recruiting more Black teachers through the Black Teacher Pipeline.
2) Shelby County Schools reports over 200 teacher vacancies at the start of the school year   As schools across the country enter the third consecutive pandemic school year, there is an intensifying teacher shortage nationwide, fueled by pandemic-related burnout and retirements, as well as the dwindling number of students interested in pursuing a teaching career.
3) Michigan’s free preschool program is expanding. Will community providers benefit?   Researchers consistently praise the program for its use of research-based best practices, such as its requirement that teachers hold at least a bachelor’s degree. In 2018, a study of rising kindergartners showed that GSRP had produced larger gains in math than the six other states in the study.
4) Teacher shortage leaves Newark schools with 120 unfilled positions as classes start   In addition, the district hired more than 30 former student teachers as full-time educators; brought on some members of Teach For America, a program that offers abbreviated teacher training; and partnered with Montclair State University to funnel recent graduates into open classroom positions.

Cincinnati Enquirer. 94% of Ohio’s teachers are white. Could that change any time soon?   A statewide task force assembled in 2018 by the Ohio departments of education and higher education has recommended a range of actions for Ohio to better recruit and retain teachers of color…This year, the state doled out grants to 20 different school districts to help them diversify their ranks over the next 2 ½ years. Most of the grants will support what’s known as “grow your own” programs that recruit teacher candidates from nontraditional areas…

Education Week.  First-Year Teachers Need Support This Year. Here Are 5 Ways Prep Programs Can Help Educator-preparation programs have a role in stemming teacher attrition: 1. Build and support school learning communities. 2. Design “contact chains” so newer teachers can reach out rapidly. 3. Hold interviews and focus groups frequently. 4. Adjust curricula or courses to recognize the social-emotional needs of educators. 5. Include more teachers, school nurses, counselors, and school psychologists on educator-preparation college advisory councils. 

Fox News. Pandemic prompts changes in how future teachers are trained: The pandemic is already leaving its fingerprints on the education of future teachers   Officials at Columbia University’s Teachers College say its students will continue to get practice in skills that became increasingly important during the pandemic, such as designing digital curricula or engaging kids in virtual or hybrid learning.

Hechinger Report. OPINION: Let’s work together to solve a growing demand for skilled teachers: We can start by making the profession more attractive and removing barriers [by L. Gangone, AACTE CEO & TC EdD ‘99]  To develop and maintain a diverse and professional teacher workforce, increased financial aid for teacher candidates is essential. American Rescue Plan funding can be used to build on the work of many educator-preparation programs and school districts that have successfully developed residency models and other innovative approaches that streamline the pathways to teaching.

Inside Higher Education.
1) Books or Bombs?: Now is the time for every college in the country to fight hard for the next massive investment in higher education[by M. Camp TC Director of Gov’t Relations & TC PhD ‘21]  There are no federal statutory limits on advocacy, so colleges may — and should — speak up on vital issues like scientific research funding, student aid, infrastructure, immigrant rights, teacher education and undoing systemic racism.
2) Confronting Whiteness in the Teacher Education Classroom   Across the United States, schools of education prepare a predominantly White, female, Christian, and English-speaking population to become public school teachers. This portrait of preservice teachers reveals a mismatch between the teachers and students in our increasingly diverse public-school system. 
3) Pulling Out All the Stops: Community colleges are employing various strategies to attract students this fall and recover from enrollment losses related to the pandemic.  Thomas Stith III, president of the North Carolina Community College System, said community colleges are also trying to expand their student pool ..the system signed an agreement Monday with the University of North Carolina system creating a new pathway to the university’s teacher education programs to address a teacher shortage in the state.

National Catholic Register. Jesuit High School in California Accused of Teaching Critical Race Theory   Morrison reported that materials from the University of Michigan had been adopted for teacher training, despite the fact that other documents produced by the same university program attacked “Christianity, ‘ableness,’ cisgenderism, and United States citizenship as being indicators of ‘privilege’ and therefore ‘oppressive.’”

NEA News. As Teacher Shortage Grows, Schools Opening Without Key Educators: The teacher shortage has been a growing for years, but the pandemic has worsened it. Many schools are opening this year with vacancies.   All of these factors, plus a perceived lack of respect for teachers, have contributed to declining enrollment in teacher-preparation programs. Indeed, since 2010, across the U.S., the number of students enrolled in teacher-prep programs has fallen by a third. 

Washington Post. Data shows only 20 percent of applicants for a student loan forgiveness program will receive relief by 2026   “These revelations make clear that without sweeping action by the Biden administration, the promises that Washington made to teachers, nurses and so many other dedicated public service workers will remain broken,” said Seth Frotman, founder of the Student Borrower Protection Center.

NEW YORK STATE
New York State Education Department.
1) Board of Regents Meeting, September. Higher Education Sub-committee
Proposed Amendments
a) Proposed Amendment to Sections 3.29 and 13.10 of the Rules of the Board of Regents… Relating to Removing References to Regional Accreditation In February 2020, USDE issued new regulations which eliminated the distinction between “regional” or “national” to refer to an accrediting agency… Therefore, it is necessary to amend the Rules of the Board of Regents and the Commissioner’s regulations to remove references to regional accrediting institutions of higher education as there is no longer such a distinction.
b) Proposed Amendment to Sections 52.21 and 80-2.9 ..Relating to the Creation of the Bilingual Education Extension, Supplementary Bilingual Education Extension, and Registration Requirements for Programs Leading to the Bilingual Education Extension for Initi The Department is proposing to create the Bilingual Education extension and Supplementary Bilingual Education extension for the new Initial and Professional School Counselor certificates, continuing these extension options for school counselors in the future.
Action Items
a) Proposed Amendment to Sections 80-2.1 and 80-3.1 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to Permanent School Counselor Certificate Requirements …the Department proposes to clarify that candidates who hold a valid Provisional School Counselor certificate and apply for a Permanent School Counselor certificate must meet the requirements for the Permanent School Counselor certificate prior to February 2, 2023 or while under a Provisional School Counselor certificate that was in effect after such date…VOTED: That sections 80-2.1 and 80-3.1 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education be amended, as submitted, effective September 29, 2021.
b) Proposed Amendment to Sections 52.21, 60.6, 61.19, 80-1.2, 80-3.7, 100.1, 100.2, 100.4, 100.5, 100.6, 100.7, 100.19 and 151-1.3 and the addition of Section 80-5.27…
* Section 80-3.7 is amended to allow any undergraduate or graduate level course completed during the spring, summer, or fall 2020 terms with a passing grade, or its equivalent, to count toward the content core or pedagogical core semester hour requirements for certification through the Individual Evaluation pathway.
* Section 80-1.2(b) is amended to extend the expiration date of the Initial certificate, Initial Reissuance, Provisional certificate, Provisional Renewal, and Initial and Provisional certificate extensions from August 31, 2020 to January 31, 2021 to provide candidates with the time needed to work in schools and complete the requirements for the Professional or Permanent certificate.
* Section 80-5.27 is added to create an Emergency COVID-19 certificate for candidates seeking certain certificates, extensions, and annotations because there is limited test center availability and schools have been closed pursuant to Executive Order(s) of the Governor due to the COVID-19 crisis. This certificate would be valid for two years.
* Section 52.21(c) is amended to exempt school district leader (SDL) and school district business leader (SDBL) candidates from taking and passing the SDL and SDBL assessment, respectively, for program completion and for the institutional recommendation for the Professional certificate if they completed all program requirements except the assessment requirement in the 2019-2020 or 2020- 2021 academic year.
2) Office of Higher Education Educator Preparation Newsletter: August 2021
* New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCE) Test Fees and Refund Policy
* Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Initiative
* Seeking Applicants for the Commissioner’s Advisory Panel (Cap) For Special Education Services
3) Office of Teaching initiatives
a) Emergency COVID-19 Certificate Candidates who are seeking certain certificates and extensions may be eligible for the Emergency COVID-19 certificate, allowing them to work in New York State public schools or districts for two years while taking and passing the required exam(s) for the certificate or extension sought.Update (September 14, 2021): The certification requirement deadlines for the Emergency COVID-19 certificate have been extended from September 1, 2021 to September 1, 2022. For example, the application deadline for this two-year emergency certificate is now September 1, 2022. Individuals who applied for the Emergency COVID-19 certificate prior to September 14, 2022 will automatically have their certificate requirement deadlines extended to September 1, 2022. Public comment begins 9/29/21.
b) edTPA Safety Net for Certain Candidates Who Are Impacted by the COVID-19 Crisis During the Spring 2020 through Summer 2022 Terms Candidates who meet the eligibility requirements below for the edTPA safety net may pass the Assessment of Teaching Skills – Written (ATS-W) exam in lieu of passing the edTPA. Either version of the ATS-W exam (Elementary or Secondary) is acceptable; it is the candidate’s choice which version they want to take. To qualify, the candidate must take the ATS-W exam by September 1, 2024…

NEW YORK CITY
Teachers College.
1) edTPA score reports to date: TOTAL tests takers: 32 (100%) | PASS  28 (87.5%) | FAIL 3 (9.5%) | INCOMPLETE  1 (3%)
2) Teachers College Awarded AAQEP Accreditation   Recognition for TC’s educator preparation programs reflects documented results for graduates, and includes a special commendation [only 14% to date] for standout pedagogy, community engagement and a commitment to reducing educational disparities

GLOBAL
Education International. Nicaragua: Creating happier school environments to mitigate child labour   “We integrate cultural dances, painting and traditional games into our teacher training. Teachers incorporate these elements into their classes, which makes school more fun and attractive for children…”

Hong Kong University. “Educating Learners for Their Future – Not Our Past” by Professor Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills, OECD. Webinar; 17 September

Teachers Education Academy. International Teacher Training Course   You can attend this course with Erasmus Plus Program grant, different grants, or your own budget. The course is open to all countries.

The Hindu. Teacher Education University gets 12 (B) status   The Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University has been granted 12 (B) status by the University Grants Commission… The status would enable the institution to conduct research activities and implement new education programmes, according to the release issued by university registrar-in charge.

UNITED STATES
ABC News. Pandemic prompts changes in how future teachers are trained: The pandemic is already leaving its fingerprints on the education of future teachers   Officials at Columbia University’s Teachers College say its students will continue to get practice in skills that became increasingly important during the pandemic, such as designing digital curricula or engaging kids in virtual or hybrid learning.

Chalkbeat.
1) It’s time for teachers — and textbooks — to capitalize the “B” in Black: The fight for capitalization has been going on for decades, but curriculums have been slow to adapt.  [by co-author M. Hines, TC Postdoc Fellow 2017-19]  As teacher educators and historians who study American education, we know that how and what we teach students about race has been controversial and contested for centuries. 
2) Only a third of NJ teachers pass licensing exams the first time around. Does that reflect teacher prep programs? [first posted in Week of July 26 in TENews] Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include a point from Thomas Edison State University that the institution does not offer a teacher prep program. The update also mentions the study’s use of pass-rate data for individuals taking the licensure exam who are not enrolled in a teacher prep program.
3) Would-be teachers of color pass Pennsylvania licensing exams at lower-than-average rates.  While 62% of Pennsylvania’s elementary teacher candidates pass the state licensing test on the first try, teacher candidates of color at all but a few of the state’s teacher preparation programs have lower pass rates.

Hechinger Report. Teacher licensing rules are one reason small schools don’t have enough teachers: Principals and superintendents in small Montana districts say it’s already hard to find good teachers without the state making it more difficult   During a recent meeting of the Montana Legislature’s Education Interim Committee, Rep. Linda Reksten, R-Polson, noted that during her years as a public school superintendent, it sometimes took the state six weeks just to process an applicant’s fingerprints. In some places, the multiple hurdles to licensure slow the process so much that they have exacerbated the state’s teacher shortage.

Keloland Media. Report: Fewer teacher education graduates taking jobs in S.D.   Statewide there are 120 open teaching positions, up 50 from this same time last year. Part of the reason there’s so many extra teaching jobs available is many more recent college graduates aren’t staying in South Dakota.

Omaha World-Herald. Bellevue University receives formal approval of its Secondary Teacher Education Program   BU received formal approval of its Secondary Teacher Education Program from the Nebraska State Board of Education via a letter on June 17.

NEW YORK STATE
Chalkbeat. As Gov. Cuomo resigns, here’s how he influenced New York schools over the last decade.  “Hitching your wagon to state tests didn’t work out well because the public lost confidence in those tests and was wary about them being used for purposes other than what they were designed [for], which was measuring student performance,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College.  Cuomo ultimately reversed his stance on using state tests to evaluate teachers, and the Board of Regents placed a moratorium on using the grades 3-8 Math and ELA tests in teacher evaluations… Cuomo had previously resisted such a hike, but buckled to it under pressure, said Michael Rebell, the leading attorney on the case that created Foundation Aid and the director of the Center For Educational Equity at Teachers College.

NEW YORK CITY
Chalkbeat. As schools hire teachers and counselors, a funding cliff looms  New York City is hiring teachers to reduce class sizes or add co-teachers in more than 70 schools, plus hiring 500 social workers…“Now, they will have money to hire new teachers, art, music, gym, you name it,” said City Councilman Mark Treyger…

Teachers College. Christopher Emdin Wants Your “Students to See You Struggle”: In his new book Ratchetdemic, TC’s Emdin challenges educators who seek to transform their students’ lives to start by liberating their own mind   Ratchetdemic is a conscious entry in a lineage of critical pedagogy that Emdin traces to Paulo Freire, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and even W. E. B. Du Bois, who was once, Emdin notes, a teacher-training graduate in Tennessee whose first rural schoolhouse job brought home how the system will extinguish young people’s organic enthusiasm in service of reinforcing the social order.