Welcome to NEWSWIRE. This monthly e-newsletter has been designed to bring K-12 teacher education and early childhood program faculty in Arizona important news, facts, dates and information that can be shared with students and used to enhance any education environment. NCTE is proud to offer this newsletter as a resource, and values your feedback, input and suggestions. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at ncte@domail.maricopa.edu.
The Condition of Community Colleges 2008 According to a supplemental report to The Condition of Education 2008, community colleges enroll over 30% of America's college students and serve as a stepping stone to bachelor's degrees for many students. The report examines community college enrollment, and persistence and attainment rates among students. It also compares the characteristics of community college students with those of four-year institutions. Findings include:
• In 2006–07, there were 1,045 community colleges in the United States, enrolling 6.2 million students (or 35 percent of all postsecondary students enrolled that year).
• Average annual community college tuition and fees are less than half those at public 4-year colleges and universities and one tenth those at private 4-year colleges and universities.
• Community colleges enroll a diverse group of students, with various reasons for going to college, and have larger percentages of nontraditional, low income, and minority students than 4-year colleges and universities.
Higher Education Opportunity Act Summary On August 14, 2008, President Bush signed into law P.L. 110-315, the Higher Education
Opportunity Act. The legislation reauthorizes the Higher Education Act (HEA) programs for six years and has far-reaching implications for community colleges. This document, produced by the American Association of Community Colleges, is a brief summary of some of the major provisions impacting community colleges and their students.
Teaching by Choice: Community Colleges Expand K-12 STEM Pathways and Practices, released by the American Association of Community Colleges in partnership with the National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs, offers recommendations for community college practice in post-baccalaureate teacher education and professional development programs for current and future K–12 teachers in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. The trend in community colleges to move beyond more traditional transfer, or 2 + 2, teacher education programs responds to the nation’s critical need for K–12 teachers in STEM subjects. It also responds to the professional needs of teachers who must keep current in their fields as they vie for the attention of students who have grown up immersed in fast-paced digital media.
The impetus for No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America’s Education Schools, by the National Council on Teacher Quality, is the unfortunate description of elementary teachers, both by themselves and those who prepare them, as “math phobic”, and the subsequent mediocre performance of American students in mathematics compared to their counterparts around the world. The study recommends five standards for the mathematics preparation of elementary teachers, and suggests that a deeper understanding of elementary mathematics, with more attention given to the foundations of algebra, must be the new “common denominator” of our preparation programs for elementary teachers within education schools.
This Issue Brief reports on trends in the attrition of public school mathematics and science teachers over a 16-year period and examines the reasons given for leaving teaching employment. Findings from the analysis indicate that the percentage of public school mathematics and science teachers who left teaching did not change measurably between 1988–89 and 2004–05, while the percentage of other public school teachers who left teaching employment increased. In addition, when asked to rate reasons for leaving the teaching profession, the only measurable difference between science and mathematics leavers and other leavers was that science and mathematics leavers rated better salary or benefits as very or extremely important.
A panel of national experts on child and adolescent development, convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), is drafting recommendations for how teacher colleges can craft courses and curricula so that future educators have a stronger understanding of how children develop emotionally and psychologically, from the early grades through high school. The panel’s charges are to make recommendations to teacher educators about how child and adolescent development principles are taught and applied within the teacher education curriculum; to recommend changes to NCATE standards to ensure better integration of child/adolescent development; and to make recommendations to policymakers about the needed focus on child and adolescent development within the teacher preparation curriculum, and about changing the culture of schools to include scientific knowledge about child and adolescent development.
With the Latino population growing, colleges are considering their success, or lack thereof, in educating Latino students. Modeling Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs): Campus Practices that Work for Latino Students, explores strategies used by institutions with significant Latino enrollments. The report looks at five topics identified to help Latino students succeed and what HSIs are doing in those areas. The five areas include community outreach, academic support, data use, faculty development and transfer pathways. Suggestions for working with Latino students include providing a holistic approach to serving Latino students and seeking external sources to develop and test innovative practices while adding proven practices to the institutional budget.
A February 2008 TIME Magazine article, How To Make Great Teachers, discusses the teacher shortage, and efforts to recruit and retain quality teachers. Discussion in this article about the current state of the teaching profession is prompted by the following data:
3.2 million people currently teach in U.S. public schools.
The nation will need to recruit an additional 2.8 million over the next eight years owing to baby-boomer retirement, growing student enrollment and staff turnover.
Recent test results show that U.S. 10th-graders ranked 17th in science among peers from 30 nations, while in math they placed in the bottom five.
Research suggests that a good teacher is the single most important factor in boosting achievement, more important than class size, the dollars spent per student, or the quality of textbooks and materials.
Campus Spotlight Guidelines Showcase your K-12 teacher education or early childhood program activities and accomplishments in the Newswire by submitting the following to ncte@domail.maricopa.edu by the 10th of the month for the following month’s issue.
100-150 word ARTICLE about your program, activity, practice, policy, partnership, resource, etc.; include contact information and a web address if applicable
UPCOMING EVENT title, date, time, place, target audience, cost, sponsoring campus/program(s), partners, etc.
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The information on this Web site is intended to provide information currently affecting or related to the teaching community and community college teacher education programs. Links to other Web sites are provided merely for your convenience and do not constitute or imply endorsement by the National Center for Teacher Education (NCTE). Such external sites contain information created, published, maintained or otherwise posted by organizations independent of NCTE, and NCTE cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on such sites. NCTE shall not be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential damages, that result in any way from your use or reliance on information provided on this site.
