Federal Policy and Legislation

AACTE maintains a constant presence on Capitol Hill and with the current administration to advocate on behalf of the educator preparation profession.

Current policy and legislation related to educator preparation:

AACTE 2020 Legislative Priorities
2020 has been a challenging year for every student, teacher, and educational leader across the country. AACTE actively advocated, on behalf of our members, to our federal and state policymakers in five key areas: (1) Ensuring sufficient funds for K-12 and higher education during the COVID19 pandemic in order to operate schools safely, (2) Investing in and strengthening the profession of teaching, (3) Keeping K-12 public funds in public education, (4) Revolutionizing educational systems and practices to better serve all learners, ensuring social justice and equity for all students, especially students of color, those with disabilities, immigrant students, and LGBTQIA+ students, and (5) Increasing the federal investment in education from pre-school through graduate school.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act
This act authorizes programs and accountability to support the improvement of the nation’s PK-12 education system. Title II of ESEA focuses on the federal role in supporting educator quality.

Higher Education Act
Title II of HEA authorizes programs that support reforms in teacher preparation and requires annual institutional and state reporting on the quality of programs.

TEACH Grants
This federal program supports the recruitment of high-quality teacher candidates for hard-to-staff fields and schools.

Teacher Quality Partnership Grants
This federal program supports partnerships between institutions of higher education and high-need local education agencies and schools to strengthen the teacher pipeline.

Special Education Personnel Preparation
The Special Education Personnel Preparation program is designed to ensure that children with disabilities are supported by fully qualified school personnel.

Institute of Education Sciences
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) was created in 2002 through the Education Science Reform Act (ESRA, Title I of P.L. 107-279) as an independent research arm of the U.S. Department of Education.

Proposed Bills Supported by AACTE
The 117 Congress (2021-2022) has just convened, and this page will be updated as Members of Congress introduce legislation.