Teacher Education News

AACTE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Web Conference

AACTE Web Conference on 21st-Century Learning
"The Future Is Now . . . So Now What?
Learning and Innovation in the 21st Century" – November 17-19
This multiday web conference sponsored by the Committee on Innovation and Technology addresses creative teaching and learning in the digital age. Topics include the educational potential of social networking, the expanding use of GPS, intelligent use of video to teach science, and the role of cloud computing in face-to-face and online classes.
AACTE Amazon Store

Shop the AACTE Amazon Bookstore
AACTE, in partnership with Amazon, now offers one-stop shopping for all your professional print and e-book needs through its online AACTE Amazon Bookstore. Visit the store today through the homepage icon or access through our Media Café.
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NATIONAL NEWS

National Panel Urges Upgrades to Teacher Workforce
From Education Week
A report from a high-powered education task force that calls for states and school districts to overhaul how they recruit, prepare, evaluate, and compensate teachers has raised the hackles of the American Federation of Teachers, which dismissed many of its recommendations as "top-down" and disrespectful of the profession. The report is from Strategic Management of Human Capital, a project of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, in which AACTE participates.

Paper Calls for Focus on High School Teachers
From Education Week
If high school students are to master the skills and knowledge they need to do well in college or good jobs, their teachers need to be up to the task. And that will require revamping teacher-training programs, according to a paper released November 3 by the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Bill Would Replace Key Federal Literacy Programs
From Education Week
Long-awaited legislation to replace three federal reading programs – Early Reading First, Reading First, and Striving Readers – was introduced Nov. 5 by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and would authorize $2.35 billion in funding to improve reading and writing in kindergarten to 12th grade.

Obama Coaxes States to Change With School Dollars
From the Associated Press
One year after his election, President Barack Obama is coaxing states across the country to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions as they pursue his vision for school reform. Obama sees test score data and charter schools, which are publicly funded but independent of local school boards, as solutions to the problems that plague public education.

States Slow Standards Work Amid 'Common Core' Push
From Education Week
As they wait to see how the latest push for common national standards plays out, some states are putting off or slowing the revision of their own academic standards to avoid wasted effort and spending. At least four states – Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania – have halted revision of their standards for mathematics or English/language arts, the subjects that standards writers for the national initiative are turning to first.

Ford Foundation Gives $100 Million to Reform Urban High Schools
From the Los Angeles Times
The Ford Foundation pledged $100 million Wednesday in a seven-year initiative to "transform" urban high schools in the United States, focusing on seven cities. It will fund research and reform in four areas: teacher quality, student assessment, a longer school day and year, and school funding. The initiative is being led by Jeannie Oakes, formerly of UCLA.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

Crisis in School Leadership Seen Brewing in California
From Education Week
In California, where school budgets are being slashed and achievement remains stubbornly low in many districts, there is mounting concern that the supply of principals is too limited to manage the financial and academic challenges facing public schools. Complicating matters, the state is at the front end of a wave of principal retirements, as some 40 percent of school leaders are expected to leave their jobs over the next decade.

Nearly 100 NYC Schools Sign Up for Gates-Funded Teacher Quality Study
From Gothamschools.org
The United Federation of Teachers and New York City’s Department of Education announced in September that they had joined forces to promote a study of teacher effectiveness paid for by the Gates Foundation. The $2.6 million project, called Measures of Effective Teaching, will look at ways of measuring teacher quality beyond using test scores. A UFT special representative, Joseph Colletti, said 96 schools, most of them high schools, have signed onto the project. The goal is to have 100.

Wisc. Legislature Passes Education Reforms to Win Stimulus Dollars
From the Journal Sentinel (WI)
Student test data can be used to evaluate performance but not to discipline or dismiss teacher, under a bill Wisconsin lawmakers forwarded to Gov. Jim Doyle early Friday. The end of the ban on using student test data to evaluate teachers is viewed as necessary to meet the minimum requirements for the state to be considered for a share of $4.35 billion in federal stimulus money. Critics contend that the bill does little to breach the firewall between student data and teacher evaluations.

Grant To Boost Michigan Science, Math Teachers
From the Great Lakes IT Report
The new W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching Fellowship will provide 240 future teachers with an exemplary intensive master's program in education and place those Fellows in STEM teaching positions in hard-to-staff middle and high schools. The Fellows, who will be announced in spring 2011 and receive a $30,000 stipend to complete the master's program, commit to teach for at least three years in a high-need school after they complete their teacher education program.

Teachers from Alternate Route Programs Ranked Highly By Calif. Principals
From PRNewswire
Over 90 percent of school principals across California ranked teachers from alternative certification programs as good or better than other beginning teachers, according to a survey conducted by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Grad School Criticizes Volunteer Program
From The Hatchet (George Washington University, DC)
The George Washington University Graduate School of Educational and Human Development held a panel discussion November 3 in an attempt to reassert itself against popular competitors like Teach for America. A panel of GSEHD professors and administrators emphasized the value of the school's traditionally structured education programs at the event, which was designed to "not only promote our graduate programs, but to combat the rampant promotion of Teach for America on GW's campus," said the school's director of admissions and student services.
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OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS / REPORTS

ED Recovery Act Report: Stimulus Saved or Created 325,000 Educator Jobs
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided approximately $100 billion to the U.S. Department of Education with the initial goal of delivering emergency education funding to states. Over $67 billion in formula grants were awarded as of September 30, saving or creating some 325,000 education jobs.

Reminder: AERA to Run Undergraduate Training Workshop at 2010 Conference
December 15 Application Deadline
The American Educational Research Association seeks fellowship applications for its Undergraduate Student Education-Research Training Workshop, to be held in conjunction with the AERA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, April 30-May 2, 2010. The workshop is designed to build the talent pool of undergraduate students who plan to pursue doctorate degrees in education research or in disciplines and fields that examine education issues.

Reminder: Fulbright Applications Available for 2010-2011
January 15, 2010: Application deadline for Distinguished Fulbright Awards in Teaching
Visit www.fulbrightteacherexchange.org for application forms and more information.

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American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).

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