Teacher Education News

AACTE Weekly News Briefs | July 7, 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 to Offer Online Updates, New Login System
In the coming weeks, AACTE will launch a new online feature that enables individuals at member institutions to create or update their own user profiles in the membership database. This feature will also enable Chief Representatives to update the profile information for their institutions as well as information for other faculty at the institutions. This online utility will replace and enhance the previous paper system for representative updates.

Revisit 2009 Day on the Hill Online
Materials from AACTE's 5th annual Day on the Hill are available online. Download our new publication on innovation and reform in teacher preparation, read presenters' remarks, and browse photos from the congressional reception and briefing.

Correction to June 30 Item
An erroneous hyperlink in the item "IES Seeks Strategies to Rescue 'Chronically' Failing Schools" left readers without key funding information. The correct link is http://ies.ed.gov/funding/ncer_rfas/lowperf.asp.

NATIONAL NEWS

Expert Panels Named in Common-Standards Push
From Education Week (LOGIN REQUIRED)
The National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the two Washington organizations coordinating a push for common academic standards, have named the 29 people who are deciding what math and language arts skills students will need to know and when, along with the 35 people who will formally critique the group's work. The list of those who will write the standards is dominated by three organizations: Achieve Inc., the College Board, and ACT Inc.

Testing Testing
From the American Prospect
On June 1, the National Governors' Association announced that 49 states and territories have signed on to an agreement, called the Common Core Standards Initiative, to develop national standards in math and English. For education reformers across the political spectrum who have long urged that the United States join its developed world peers in articulating national standards, the news is a major victory. But beneath the feel-good press releases announcing the initiative lie some real, unresolved policy differences among standards supporters, in part over testing.

An Experiment in Merit-Based Student Aid Is Likely to End
From the Chronicle of Higher Education (LOGIN REQUIRED)
The Obama administration has no plans to renew the Bush-era Academic Competitiveness Grants and their companion, the National Smart Grants, beyond their 2011 expiration date, meaning a likely end for America's short-lived experiment with merit-based federal financial aid. Instead, the administration will focus its resources on the popular Pell Grant program, which is strictly need-based.

ED to Fund Unified Student Data Systems
From eSchool News
Backed by a strong and unprecedented federal investment in education, the Obama administration has identified multiple objectives intended to help revamp the nation's education system--and a persistent use of student data to improve instruction is one of those objectives. A total of $250 million in education stimulus funding is intended for statewide longitudinal data systems and will be distributed by the Institute of Education Sciences in the form of competitive grants to states, which will be awarded in November.

Studies Probe 'Value-Added' Measures
From Education Week (LOGIN REQUIRED)
A new study by a Princeton University economist suggests that "value-added" methods for determining the effectiveness of classroom teachers are built on some shaky assumptions and may be misleading. Other recent studies look at the effects of student-sorting bias and at the longevity of effects on students from a given teacher.

Assessing Accountability
From Inside Higher Ed
Most states don't have systems in place to measure college students' learning outcomes, and rare is the state that actually uses accountability data to drive policy decisions, a new report says. Education Sector, a think tank promoting education reform, analyzed accountability systems across the nation and found varied results in its report, "Ready to Assemble: Grading State Higher Education Accountability Systems."

Education Secretary Arne Duncan Counting on Business Leaders to Help Push Through School Reforms
From the Chicago Tribune
In general, business has a beef with the way schools are run. Name a common practice, and chances are business doesn't like it: the performance evaluations and teacher pay; the math and science curricula; the governance, bureaucracy and union job protections. Groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable have lots of ideas for fixing what they view as a ball and chain on American competitiveness. Turns out, so does the secretary of education, and he's offering billions in new stimulus dollars to schools that are willing to change.

Even 'Recession Proof' Schoolteachers Feel Pinch of Employment Downturn
From the Wall Street Journal
In a sign of how severe the employment downturn is getting, even schoolteachers, an occupation once viewed as recession proof, are feeling the pain. Education jobs grew steadily in recent years amid rising enrollment and government efforts to reduce class sizes. Now the increase in teaching positions has leveled off as school districts struggle with budget pressures.

Education Secretary Challenges NEA on Teacher Pay
From the Seattle Times
Education Secretary Arne Duncan challenged members of the National Education Association Thursday to stop resisting the idea of linking teacher pay to student achievement. Duncan described how, as CEO of Chicago public schools, he negotiated a performance pay program with the Chicago Teachers Union. It started with federal dollars from the Teacher Incentive Fund, which the administration wants to drastically expand. But Obama may face resistance.

Ex-WVa Governor Bob Wise to Head Teaching Standards Board
From the Charleston Daily Mail
Former Gov. Bob Wise is about to be at the forefront of a national debate over how states can attract, pay and keep good teachers—not to mention figure out who the good teachers are. On Monday, he was elected chairman of the board of directors of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Charisma? To Her, It's Overrated—Interview with Wendy Kopp
From the New York Times
I just think there's actually a huge power to inexperience. In the context of deeply entrenched problems that many people have given up on, it helps to not have a traditional framework so you can ask the naïve questions. That can help you set goals that more experienced people wouldn't think are feasible.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Teacher Trainees Get More Face Time With Students
From the Tennessean
Tennessee Board of Regents universities just completed the pilot year of a plan to require teachers in training to work in schools for an entire year, as opposed to a semester of traditional student teaching. The program is designed to make new teachers feel more comfortable sooner in the classroom, in hopes of creating better teachers who stay in the profession longer. East Tennessee State University and Middle Tennessee State University tried out the program last year to mixed reviews.

SREB Urges Greater Focus on Middle Grades in South
From Education Week (LOGIN REQUIRED)
A new report raises concerns about the achievement levels of middle school students in many Southern states and outlines steps state leaders should consider to better prepare young people for high school. The report by the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board finds what it calls modest gains among most of its 16 member states in meeting state standards for middle-grades reading and mathematics between 2003 and 2007.

As Mayoral Control Ends, New Yorkers Are Wondering Who Runs City Schools
From the New York Daily News
The city's educational system set sail into "uncharted territory" at midnight as the 2002 law giving Mayor Bloomberg control of the schools expired. Already there is talk from at least one borough president and others about replacing Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Bloomberg warned of dire consequences, while trying to calm kids and parents.

Panel Aims to Close the 'Cultural Competence' Gap
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
While students are doing slightly better each year on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the success rates of African-American, American Indian, Latino and Pacific Islander students shows Washington has a long way to go in improving school achievement for everyone. Despite a lack of state money for new initiatives, the Washington Legislature has formed a new committee to tackle the "achievement gap." But instead of focusing on tutoring or other special services for students, the committee is charged with helping teachers improve their "cultural competence."

Foster, Newly Appointed WSU Education Dean, Dies
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Lenoar "Len" Foster, the interim dean of the Washington State University College of Education who was appointed to the position after his predecessor's death just one week ago, has died. Foster was appointed to the job after the school's longest-serving dean, Judy Nichols Mitchell, died June 26 at age 70.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS

Last Call for Comments on the Title II Accountability Provisions in HEOA
The U.S. Department of Education has reissued a call for comments on the Title II accountability provisions in the Higher Education Opportunity Act. The deadline for submitting comments is July 13. The Department is particularly interested in receiving feedback on the estimated burden and collection activities.

Technical Amendments to the Higher Education Opportunity Act Signed Into Law
On July 1, President Obama signed H.R. 1777 into law making technical amendments to the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA). The law contains two amendments to the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program. The first amendment allows 5th-year initial licensing preparation programs to participate in the prebaccalaureate program activity. The second amendment expands the 12-month requirement for residency programs to 18 months. The U.S. Department of Education will issue a notice of correction for the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant shortly.

NCATE Seeks Comment on SPA Guidelines
An NCATE task force has developed new criteria for Specialized Professional Association (SPA) standards. The new guidelines are designed to ensure that SPA standards are more focused and more consistent, while still maintaining an emphasis on student learning and on candidate knowledge and skills. Comments are due by August 17. A web-based forum will be held August 12 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EDT to discuss the draft.

Alexa Posny Nominated to ED Post
President Obama has nominated Alexa Posny as assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services in the U.S. Department of Education. Posny currently serves as commissioner of education for the state of Kansas.

Coming July 13: Review Period for Revised NBPTS Standards for English as a New Language
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has announced a public review period for its revised English as a New Language Standards. The review period runs July 13-26.

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