The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has convened a Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning. The expert panel, made up of education experts and critics, calls for teacher education to be “turned upside down” by revamping programs to place clinical practice at the center of teacher preparation. This new vision of preparation also will require the development of partnerships with school districts in which teacher education becomes a shared responsibility between preK-12 schools and higher education.

The new approaches will involve changing policies and procedures in both state higher education and preK-12 education systems, including policies and practices that are no longer relevant to today’s needs. Eight states—California, Colorado, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Tennessee—have already agreed to implement the panel’s recommendations. For further reading, visit the NCATE website.  

On November 9, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan released the U.S. Department of Education's plan for transforming American education through technology. The National Education Technology Plan (NETP) was written and refined by leading education researchers over an 18-month period. Input about the plan was given by the public, industry officials, educators, and students from across the country. The IRA was among those that gave input as it filed comments about the plan in May 2010.  

The plan, titled Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, presents a model with key goals in five areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. Each section has guidelines for using technology to transform education, aiming to achieve these goals by 2015.

“With this technology plan, we have laid out a comprehensive vision for how teachers working with technology can transform student learning in classrooms across America. We must dramatically improve teaching and learning, personalize instruction, and ensure that the educational environments we offer to all students keep pace with the 21st century," said Duncan. Read the full plan here.

Slots still remain for tonight's IRA webinar analyzing how this week's election results may affect funding, reading education, committee memberships, White House and U.S. Department of Education goals, appropriations, and the future of ESEA. Richard Long, International Reading Association Director of Government Relations, will deliver up-to-the-minute analysis in this special webinar available to IRA members only. The webinar will include a one-hour presentation followed by a 30-minute Q & A session.

Registration is limited and closes at 1:00 p.m. (Eastern time) today. The seminar begins at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern time) this evening. All you need in order to participate is a computer and good Internet connection. Register here.

Republicans seized control of the U.S. House of Representatives and significantly bolstered their numbers in the Senate in Tuesday’s election, an outcome that will almost certainly mean an end to emergency education aid to states and will heighten pressure for a more limited federal role in K-12 policy.

Representative John Boehner, R-Ohio, the House minority leader who is likely to become the speaker of the House, said in an election-night speech that Republicans will “take a new approach that hasn’t been tried before in Washington—by either party. It starts with cutting spending instead of increasing it. Reducing the size of government instead of expanding it.”

That’s likely to mean a move toward less federal involvement in education policy, which expanded under the Bush administration and the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, analysts said. Read more of this premium access free article in Education Week online.

How will the new faces in State Houses and in Congress affect funding, reading education, committee memberships, White House and U.S. Department of Education goals, appropriations, and the future of ESEA? Richard Long, International Reading Association Director of Government Relations, will deliver up-to-the-minute analysis in a special webinar available to IRA members only. The webinar will include a one-hour presentation followed by a 30-minute Q & A session.

Registration is limited to 100 people, so sign up today. When: November 4th, 8:00 p.m. (Eastern time). Where: Online--all you need is a computer and good Internet connection. How: Register here.