Teacher Education Alliance

The new A.S.U./Maricopa Teacher Education Alliance (TEALL) website is now live!  TEALL is a new program designed to assist students working on their Associate in Arts in Elementary Education (AAEE) through Maricopa Community Colleges to smoothly transition to Arizona State University.  Please visit this site for more information.


Closing the Expectations Gap 2006

Closing the Expectations Gap 2006, from Achieve, Inc., is a 50-state progress report examining the alignment of high school policies with the demands of postsecondary education and the workplace. The document focuses on aligning high school standards with real world expectations, high school graduation requirements with college and workplace expectations, and high school and postsecondary assessments, as well as holding high schools and postsecondary institutions accountable for student success.


Beat the Odds Report

Why Some Schools with Latino Children BEAT THE ODDS...and Others Don’t, a recent report by the Center for the Future of Arizona and the Morrison Institute, concludes that successful schools do things very differently than struggling schools to help drive gains in Latino student achievement. The six elements of success identified in this study fall into the three basic categories of Jim Collins’ Good to Great and the Social Sectors monograph - disciplined thought, disciplined people and disciplined action.


State Early Childhood Policy Trends

Over the past decade, investing in early childhood programs has emerged as a central strategy in states’ efforts to improve educational achievement and opportunity. This trend has been fueled by strong public support and a plethora of research findings on the influence of the first few years of life on cognitive and emotional development, social adjustment, health and economic self-sufficiency. This ECS Policy Brief outlines current and emerging state trends in early childhood education.


The Teaching Commission

The Teaching Commission, a non-profit advocacy organization founded by former IBM chairman and CEO Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., released a final report urging state and local leaders to go "far further, far faster" in transforming the teaching profession. The message comes as the Commission ends its work on schedule, three years after its inception. In its final report, Teaching at Risk: Progress and Potholes, the Commission cites significant progress, but gives state, local and federal leaders disappointing grades for their work. "If teaching remains a second-rate profession, America's economy will be driven by second-rate skills," said Gerstner. "We can wake up today-or we can have a rude awakening sooner than we think."


Science and Mathematics Education

A new ECS paper summarizes the findings and recommendations of six 2005 reports identifying improved math and science education as the key to maintaining America's competitive edge in the global economy. The groups issuing the reports represented a cross-section of interests, including the higher education, business and policy realms. Main challenges cited, however, are fairly consistent and include:

• Increased economic competition from other nations
• A dependence on foreign-born talent that may not be sustainable
• A shortage of qualified math and science teachers
• A shortage of U.S. students studying for math and science degrees

Media Products For Young Children

Parents today must filter through an increasing number of electronic media products with advertising and packaging labels proclaiming their educational benefits. A Teacher in the Living Room? Educational Media for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers, by the Kaiser Family Foundation, investigates the claims of screen media marketed for infants, toddlers and preschoolers and the research behind the claims. The report, based on the examination of DVDs, computer software and video games, concludes that while there may be some benefit to making learning fun, the claims of educational benefits may not be valid, and the heavy use of such products is contrary to the advice of pediatricians.