Colleges for Teacher Education

AACTE Weekly News Briefs | June 9, 2009
. . . delivered to your inbox so you can enjoy up-to-date news on colleges of education, teaching and the classroom, legislation, STEM teacher issues, grants, and upcoming events. Please click on linked headlines for full story.


AACTE ANNOUNCEMENTS

AACTE's 5th Annual Day on the Hill
AACTE's 2009 Day on the Hill will take place June 17-18 in Washington, DC. This is AACTE's premier advocacy event! Come to DC to meet with your members of Congress and to tell them about the good work you do. This year's theme is "Innovation and Reform in Teacher Preparation." For more information, please contact Mary Harrill-McClellan at mharrill@aacte.org.

Registration Extended for AACTE's Leadership Academy
The deadline to register for AACTE's new Leadership Academy has been extended to June 19! Two of AACTE's yearly professional development conferences, the Leadership Institute for Department Chairs and the New Deans Institute, will be combined in 2009 to create this exciting educational opportunity. With the goal of sustaining the teacher education profession by providing powerful learning and networking tools, the academy is an essential event for new deans, department chairs, and other educational administrators to attend. This event will take place June 28 - July 3 in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here to view the 2009 Leadership Academy brochure.

FREE Access to Archived Webinar on Closing the Achievement Gap for Children in Foster Care
Access this free AACTE webinar anytime through June 30! "Tutor Connection: Closing the Educational Achievement Gap for Children in Foster Care" is sponsored by the Casey Family Programs. Tutor Connection has provided 1,240 student teachers from California State University-San Marcos to work directly with children in foster care to improve academic performance. Hear about the results for over 1,500 foster care youth who have participated in this program and learn more about the roles that Departments of Education can play in positively impacting this unique and often invisible population.

NATIONAL NEWS

K-12 Chief Tapped as Education Dept. Takes Shape
From Education Week
Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana is U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's pick for assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, in charge of implementing K-12 policy under the No Child Left Behind Act. Her selection nearly rounds out the Education Department's top leadership team, a mix of Washington insiders, foundation and think tank education experts, school district leaders, and confidants from Mr. Duncan's time as schools chief in Chicago. Ms. Melendez and two other assistant secretaries were awaiting Senate confirmation as of last week, and a pick for the special education assistant secretary was still to be announced.

Duncan: Teachers Should Be Judged on Student Performance
From the Associated Press
Teachers should be judged on student performance, though not solely on test scores, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday during a conference of the Institute of Education Sciences. Duncan supports merit pay for teachers, an often controversial practice linking raises or bonuses to student achievement. It is opposed by many teachers' union members, who make up a powerful segment of the Democratic Party. He said test scores alone should not decide a teacher's salary.

A Challenging Redeployment: Program Prepares Military Veterans for Tough Missions in Nation's Classrooms
From the Washington Post
Troops to Teachers, which has placed about 11,500 teachers nationwide in 15 years, is one way the Obama administration aims to draw more men and minorities into schools and fill demand in the fields of math, science and special education. About 82 percent of the former soldiers, sailors, Marines and other veterans who sign up are men. Nearly 40 percent of Troops to Teachers participants are members of racial or ethnic minorities.

Diplomas Count 2009: Broader Horizons – The Challenge of College Readiness for All Students
From Education Week
A new national report from Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center paints a cautiously optimistic picture of high school graduation trends, finding that the national graduation rate has improved over the past decade, though a recent one-year downturn – the first significant annual decline in that 10-year period – raises cause for concern.

4-Year Colleges Graduate 53% of Students in 6 Years
From USA Today
Nationally, four-year colleges graduated an average of just 53% of entering students within six years, and "rates below 50%, 40% and even 30% are distressingly easy to find," says a new report by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. It's based on data reported to the Education Department by nearly 1,400 schools about full-time first-time students who entered in fall 2001.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Connecticut Lawmakers OK Bill to Ease the Path to Become a Teacher
From the Hartford Courant
In the face of a looming shortage of qualified teachers, state lawmakers June 2 approved sweeping changes to the certification process. The measure would make it easier for qualified professionals to make a mid-career shift and enter the teaching ranks. They would still need a teaching certificate but would no longer have to take content-area classes on subjects they already know. It will also streamline the certification process for teachers and administrators already certified in another state.

How Teacher Education (and Master's Degrees) Make a Difference for Student Achievement
From the Center for Teaching Quality (Blog)
I must say I am little weary of policy pundits who say that schools of education and master's degree programs make no difference in the lives of teachers and the students they serve. Certainly there are some that do not. One of the high-quality programs is at the University of Florida.

Next Test: Value of $125,000-a-Year Teachers
From the New York Times
So what kind of teachers could a school get if it paid them $125,000 a year? An eight-teacher dream team has been lured to an innovative charter school that will open in Washington Heights in September with salaries that would make most teachers drop their chalk and swoon; $125,000 is nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, and about two and a half times as much as the national average for teacher salaries. They also will be eligible for bonuses, based on schoolwide performance, of up to $25,000 in the second year.

Daniels' Boost in School Funds Doesn't Please All
From the Indianapolis Star
Gov. Mitch Daniels' budget proposal includes more money to fund education reform efforts, make major changes to state education policy and alter how money is distributed to districts -- but not everyone will be happy. His proposal would put all school employees on the state health plan within the next few years, negating deals struck between individual districts and unions across Indiana. And a shift in how funding will be distributed leaves fast-growing districts celebrating and shrinking districts expecting to see cuts of tens of millions of dollars.

Stimulus Funds to Train Teachers
From the Martinsville (VA) Bulletin
Federal stimulus funds will help more than 70 Henry County teachers earn advanced degrees, the superintendent said. Henry County Schools has budgeted about $550,000 in stimulus money as a "working number" for the program, which will reimburse teachers seeking master's degrees or higher for much of the cost of their coursework. Participating teachers must agree to remain in Henry County Schools for three years after the degree is awarded.

Louisiana Representatives Approve Higher Education Review
From the Baton Rouge Advocate
A plan to do a sweeping study of higher education in Louisiana won House approval June 1. The legislation, House Bill 794, would set up a nine-member commission to review college and university operations, and possibly consider whether some schools should be heavily revamped or even closed.

Education Dean's Fraud Case Teaches U. of Louisville a Hard Lesson
From the Chronicle of Higher Education
At the end of 2005, Robert D. Felner was riding high. A well-paid dean at the University of Louisville, he had just secured a $694,000 earmarked grant from the U.S. Department of Education to create an elaborate research center to help Kentucky's public schools. By the spring of 2008, all but $96,000 of the grant had been spent, but none of the tasks listed in Mr. Felner's proposal had been accomplished. Mr. Felner and Thomas Schroeder, a former student of his and the group's "executive director," now await trial on charges that could send them to prison for decades.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Competition Now Open
The U.S. Department of Education has opened this year's Teacher Quality Partnership grant competition. Interested applicants must file a letter of intent by June 26. Final applications are due July 23. To read the notice in the Federal Register, click here. For the application package and other information, click here.

Conference Call With NAEYC and the U.S. Department of Education
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is hosting a conference call with the U.S. Department of Education to answer questions about the early childhood education component of the Teacher Quality Partnership grant competition. The call will take place on Wednesday, June 10, at 3:00 p.m. EDT. If you would like to participate in this free conference call, please e-mail Adele Robinson at arobinson@naeyc.org.

New Web Site Offers Resources on Teacher Residencies
Urban Teacher Residency United, a not-for-profit organization serving a growing national network of innovative teacher preparation programs, has launched a new web site with resources on the urban residency model. Visit http://www.utrunited.org.

Free Live Webinar on Education Week's Diplomas Count Report
"Diplomas Count 2009: Broader Horizons" – Thursday, June 11, 3:00-4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. At a time when only seven in 10 American students are leaving high school with a diploma, President Barack Obama is demanding that the nation lift its educational sights by asking all Americans to commit to at least one year of education after high school. The 2009 edition of Education Week's Diplomas Count report, produced with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, investigates the issue of college readiness, exploring national policy debates as well as state and local initiatives to prepare all students for postsecondary education. The report also includes the EPE Research Center's latest graduation-rate analysis, which identifies several dozen big-city school systems that are exceeding expectations. Free registration is now open.

Free Web Conference on Survey of Teachers' Preparedness
"Demonstrating Teacher Quality in a Changing Environment" – Thursday, June 18, 2:00-3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Thousands of new teachers enter the classroom eager to make an impact on our nation's youth, but how prepared do they actually feel? In a recent survey by Eduventures, over 1,500 newly prepared teachers and administrators nationwide responded to a series of questions about their preparation to date and their preferences for ongoing graduate and professional development work.


Kristin K. McCabe, Editor
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
1307 New York Ave., NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
(207) 899-1309
kmccabe@aacte.org