Higher Education News Brief

AACTE Weekly News Briefs | December 23, 2008___________

. . . delivered to your inbox so you can enjoy up-to-date news on Colleges of Education, Teaching and the Classroom, Campaigns, Legislation, STEM Teacher Issues, International Teacher Issues, Grants, and Upcoming Events. Please click on linked headlines for full story.







AACTE ANNOUNCEMENTS



The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

AACTE Weekly News Briefs will be taking a holiday vacation. Please stay tuned for AACTE’s next issue to return in early January 2009.



AACTE 61st ANNUAL MEETING & EXHIBITS

February 6 - 9, 2009
Hyatt Regency Chicago - Virtual Tour
Chicago, IL





REGISTER NOW!

Click here for more information on the 61st Annual Meeting & Exhibits as well as direct links for registration, hotel reservations, and answers to frequently asked questions.



AACTE Announces 2009 Annual Meeting Planner

Did you know that you can search an online database for ALL confirmed sessions as well as create your own customized itinerary for AACTE’s 61st Annual Meeting & Exhibits? You can do all that and more by using AACTE's exclusive Online Itinerary Planner!





NATIONAL NEWS



Secretary Spellings Applauds Nomination of Arne Duncan, Underscores Credibility and Expertise as Integral to Education Success

From The U.S. Department of Education

Read U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling’s statement regarding the nomination of Arne Duncan as U.S. Secretary of Education.



More Schools Facing Sanctions Under NCLB

From Education Week

Almost 30,000 schools in the United States failed to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act in the 2007-08 school year. For states with comparable data for the 2006-07 school year, the number of such schools increased by 28 percent.




Common Academic Standards Get Influential Push

From Education Week

The push for common state standards in reading and math got a high-profile boost today as organizations representing governors and state education chiefs formally put their weight behind the goal of aligning academic expectations in those subjects across states and benchmarking the standards against those of other countries.



A ‘Third Way’ for Arne Duncan?

From National Review Online

Last Tuesday, President-Elect Barack Obama ended weeks of speculation by selecting Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan to be his secretary of education. The conventional wisdom is that Duncan is a “consensus” pick, bridging the Democratic Party’s major divide on education.





NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY



New IU School of Education program addresses need for test experts

From Indiana University

The Indiana University School of Education is now offering a new doctoral program in Inquiry Methodology, a program just approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The Inquiry Methodology Ph.D. focuses on the study of research strategies used with both quantitative and qualitative data, allowing students to pursue a wide range of interests and contribute to better informing public debate on education and educational policy.



Austin teachers getting nearly $1M in bonuses
From Stateman.com
State reading and math test scores at Lanier High School have improved significantly each of the past four years. But this year, unlike in the other years, teachers there will get an extra $4,000 in their paychecks for the improvements.





Other Announcements



ACE, VA to Convene Regional Meetings on New GI Bill Implementation

The American Council on Education, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, will host three regional meetings to educate campus leaders about provisions of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 and solicit input on the implementation of payment systems.

These meetings are open to representatives of the higher education community on a first-come, first-served basis at the following locations:

January 6, 2009: Los Angeles, California
January 9, 2009: Washington, D.C.
January 14, 2009: Chicago, Illinois
· Further information and online registration is available.



Alyssa J. Mangino

Communications Manager

AACTE

1307 New York Ave., NW Suite 300

Washington, DC 20005

(202) 478-4596 -Direct

(202) 457-8095 -Fax

amangino@aacte.org