AACTE Awards to Honor Educator Preparation Programs, Scholars

(Feb. 18, 2016, Washington, D.C.) – The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) is pleased to announce the 2016 recipients of its annual awards for best practice, professional achievement and writing and research. The following universities and individuals will be honored during AACTE’s 68th Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, February 23-25:

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln will receive the 2016 AACTE Best Practice Award for the Innovative Use of Technology for Tech EDGE, a collaborative partnership between UNL and eight PK-12 partner school districts. The partnership is dedicated to improving students’ 21st-century skills by preparing teachers to integrate technology in their instruction, based on the “technological pedagogical content knowledge” (TPACK) model. Preservice teachers in the partnership are supported by research and theory in university courses and practical applications in schools.  Learn more

The Indiana University Bloomington School of Education will receive the 2016 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Global and International Perspectives for its Global Gateway for Teachers program. The Gateway program, which now engages future educators from many institutions, places preservice teachers in immersive experiences in schools, homes and communities of culturally and linguistic diverse groups in 18 countries and in domestic placements on Navajo reservations and in urban Chicago. Learn more

The Loyola Marymount University School of Education will receive the 2016 AACTE Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity. The school’s commitment to multicultural and multilingual education and to the recruitment and retention of students and faculty of color is not only a statement, but a fact evident in its demographics. The long-term success of these efforts derives from the support of the programs’ mission and vision at all levels and their core values of social justice, equity and diversity—which in turn have won LMU praise from the public, charter and faith-based PK-12 schools in its service area. Learn more

Anthony S. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, will receive the 2016 AACTE Lifetime Achievement Award. Bryk will be honored especially for his transformative work at the Carnegie Foundation developing the field of improvement science in education. A celebrated researcher throughout his career, Bryk has spent the last 8 years studying reform efforts and other fields’ approaches to professional learning and improvement, resulting in new models and principles tailored to help the education field “get better at getting better.” Learn more

Ena Goodrich Shelley, professor and dean of the College of Education at Butler University (IN), will receive the 2016 Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education. An expert on early childhood education and the Reggio Emilia approach, Shelley wins accolades not merely for her record of accomplishments but for her collaborative working style. “Everyone wants to follow her example and is inspired by her energy, focus and good humor,” writes one colleague. “She has no enemies,” says another. Learn more

Etta Hollins, professor and Kauffman Endowed Chair for Urban Teacher Education in the School of Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will receive the 2016 AACTE Outstanding Book Award for her edited volume Rethinking Field Experiences in Preservice Teacher Preparation: Meeting New Challenges for Accountability, published by Routledge in 2015. This book offers a reconceptualization of how field experiences support preservice teachers while they are learning to teach. Its authors make the case for viewing program improvement and accountability in terms of service to students, not merely meeting policy and accreditation demands. Learn more

Matthew Ronfeldt of the University of Michigan School of Education will receive the 2016 AACTE Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education Article Award for his article “Field Placement Schools and Instructional Effectiveness,” published in the September/October 2015 issue of the journal. Ronfeldt’s well-designed study aimed to determine the connections between teachers’ effectiveness and various characteristics of the schools where they completed their student teaching. He found that teachers who trained in schools with better professional collaboration and higher student achievement became more effective, at least judged by their students’ math scores, than those who student-taught in sites with less-positive cultures. Learn more

Monica Billen, assistant professor in the Kremen School of Education at California State University, Fresno, will receive the 2016 AACTE Outstanding Dissertation Award for her study #Learningtoteach: Using Instagram to Elicit Pre-service Teacher Reflection. Completed at the University of Tennessee under the advisement of Professor Richard Allington, the dissertation won praise from AACTE’s reviewers for its innovative and insightful investigation of a cutting-edge approach to reflection among preservice teachers. Learn more

For more information on AACTE’s awards program, visit www.aacte.org.

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AACTE: The Leading Voice on Educator Preparation
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is a national alliance of educator preparation programs dedicated to high-quality, evidence-based preparation that assures educators are profession-ready as they enter the classroom. Its over 800 member institutions represent public and private colleges and universities in every state, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam. Through advocacy and capacity building, AACTE promotes innovation and effective practices that strengthen educator preparation. Learn more at www.aacte.org.