Leadership Academy

2020 Leadership Academy Series: Leading During Challenging Times

While the current Covid-19 pandemic may have prohibited our in-person, signature leadership training, AACTE is pleased to introduce our fall Leadership Academy Series.  This virtual, professional development opportunity will allow you to interact with other AACTE member leaders in engaging discussions and strategic planning around issues facing our institutions during these challenging and unprecedented times.

All sessions will begin at 2 PM ET on their respective dates. Over the course of the three, ninety-minute sessions, attendees will address the critical topics of: 

October 14

Series I: It’s Time to Get Real: Deliberate Action in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Current events such as the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others, combined with the COVID 19 pandemic, have highlighted historical inequities, discrimination, and systemic barriers for people of color.  Past efforts have not significantly addressed these issues; thus, the time for deliberate and courageous action is now.  Our education systems must address these inequities, and schools and colleges of education are central to this work.  In this session, you will hear from three institutions who have risen to the challenge and taken strides to make lasting change.  Each will contextualize the work they have undertaken, share successes, challenges, and lessons learned, and provide suggestions for how we can all engage in furthering this work.

October 27

Series II: Collaborative Decision-Making During Crisis

As academic leaders, we find ourselves in unchartered territory without models, blueprints, manuals, and maps to navigate the challenges facing our departments and colleges in the wake of the COVID-19 world pandemic.  How do you focus on the most critical decisions?  What decisions are most urgent and important?  Who should be involved?  What values, voices and vision should guide your decision-making? This AACTE Leadership Academy session will help you develop effective decision-making strategies. Group discussions will also address making critical decisions for advancing students and programs, dealing with difficult decisions in unchartered territory, and staying connected and building your team and virtual community.

November 10

Series III: Rethinking Field Experiences: Re-defining, Re-aligning, and Re-imagining Partnerships

COVID-19 has dramatically changed in the clinical experience landscape. As a result, traditional clinical experiences must be completely reimagined.  Making placements, supporting teacher candidate development, and cultivating partnerships requires fresh thinking and new approaches. In addition, teacher educators must find innovative ways to support virtual P-12 instruction, while also being strong advocates for state requirements that allow flexibility in clinical experiences. The session will engage attendees in a discussion of the challenges in the current field settings, new processes for rethinking clinical experiences, and new ways to communicate with partners. Participants will leave the session with a vision of how to rethink, support, and enhance their field experiences.

One low registration fee will grant you access to all three sessions.  But hurry! Attendance is limited, and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Stay tuned for more information on the content of these sessions.  We look forward to you joining AACTE and the Leadership Academy Faculty this Fall!

Contact: events@aacte.org