Education journalists - Join teacher educators from around the world and don your colorful beads with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) as we celebrate our 60th Annual Meeting and Exhibits, Quality Matters: Our Commitment to All Learners taking place at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans, Louisiana from February 7?9, 2008.

Members of the media are invited to attend the entire conference at no charge. Those requesting media registration must be currently employed by a publication or news organization and provide documentation when picking up media credentials. Travel and accommodations are paid for by the attending reporter?s news organization.

To register for media credentials, please send your name, title, publication, address, phone number, e-mail and dates you will attend to Alyssa Mangino by email at amangino@aacte.org. For more information on AACTE?s Annual Meeting, please go to http://www.aacte.org/Events/meeting_exhibits.aspx

The AACTE Media Room is located in the Chequers Room on the 2nd floor at the Hilton. All registered media will have access to the AACTE Media Room from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This room includes computer access, conference information, a location to conduct interviews, internet hook-up and refreshments for reporters.

To register for hotel accommodations at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, Two Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA 70140, call 1-800-HILTONS or 504-561-0500. Visit Hilton's Reservations for more info.

CANCELLED - Katrina School Tour: How to Rebuild and Recover from the Unimaginable * Tickets $50 Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans bruised and battered more than two years ago. Perhaps the most overlooked population affected by the storm was the thousands of teachers and students displaced in the city?s K?12 schools. Join AACTE on a visit to a New Orleans elementary, middle, and high school to learn firsthand how the Katrina tragedy affected them, the rebuilding process, and the recovery. A percentage of the proceeds from this tour will fund supply donations for the schools visited on the tour.

Opening Night Program, Lee Shulman, president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, is the first Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus and professor of psychology emeritus at Stanford University. From 1963 to 1982, he served as professor of educational psychology and medical education at Michigan State University, where he founded and co-directed the Institute for Research on Teaching (IRT). Shulman is past president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and received its career award for Distinguished Contributions to Educational Research. He is a member, former president, and former vice president of the National Academy of Education.

First General Session, Cohen Lecture, Richard Ingersoll, Professor of Education and Sociology, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania taught in both public and private schools for a number of years before obtaining his PhD in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. His longtime research focus has been the character of elementary and secondary schools as workplaces, teachers as employees, and teaching as a job. He has published numerous articles, reports, and other writings on the management and organization of schools; the problems of teacher turnover, teacher shortages, and underqualified teachers; the status of teaching as a profession; and the impact of school centralization/decentralization on school performance and accountability.

Major Forum: Quality in ?08: Teacher Preparation Issues in State Elections With the 2008 elections around the corner, where do the candidates stand on education and teacher preparation? This forum will examine the initiatives and pending legislation at the state level that could potentially have a profound impact on teacher education programming. A panel comprised of experts from both the state and federal education policy arenas, as well as recent graduates from current teacher education programs, will discuss the issues surrounding the preparation of quality teachers. Panelists will also provide input into the questions we as educators should be raising to our state and federal candidates for public office. Presenters: Joan Wodiska, National Governors Association.

Major Forum: Preparing STEM Teachers: The Key to Global Competitiveness The critical shortage of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers impacts not only the immediate needs of the K-12 classroom but also the workforce and America?s ability to continue to innovate and compete in a global economy. In July 2007, AACTE released Preparing STEM Teachers: The Key to Global Competitiveness. Like many sectors in our society, the teacher preparation community is working to address the critical challenges our nation faces in relation to global competitiveness. Preparing STEM Teachers: The Key to Global Competitiveness showcases 50 institutions from across the country who are preparing well qualified and highly effective STEM teachers. Schools, colleges, and departments of education are very much aware of these challenges and are rising to the occasion to produce more and better teachers in the STEM fields. Panelists will discuss the impact of federal legislation on the efforts to recruit, prepare and support STEM educators in the K-12 classroom, the consequences for the lack of high quality STEM teachers in the classroom, and successful STEM educator preparation models. Presenters: Dr. Jo Anne Vasquez, National Science Board, Arizona State University; Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering; Tom Luce, National Math and Science Initiative, Inc.; Lori Nazareno, Math and science facilitator at Barnum Elementary School in Denver, CO; Dr. M. Jayne Fleener; Louisiana State University College of Education (Moderator).

Major Forum: ?Educating All Kinds of Minds? At the center of teaching is students? learning, and Mel Levine?s work with the All Kinds of Minds Institute focuses on how to identify learning patterns in children to maximize their potential for success. One stage of the process of working with children is to demystify the process through which adults talk to children about the nature of their learning differences, based on the belief that children cannot work on their problems if they do not really understand them. Levine?s ground-breaking framework for understanding why children struggle in school provides a straightforward, practical system for recognizing variations in the way children learn without labeling them, and uses their strengths to help them become more successful students. Properly executed, this model can change lives by radically improving prospects for success in and out of school. In his presentation, Dr. Levine will address the concepts that have guided development of these new approaches, the relationship to how special and general education programs are structured, and the implications for re-thinking teacher preparation.

Major Forum: Teacher Quality: The Influence of State and Federal Policy One of the consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act is that states have revamped how they prepare teachers. The law?s ?highly qualified teacher? definition and K-12 testing requirements have changed the content of teacher preparation and the routes through which teacher preparation occurs. Not surprisingly, states have responded in varying degrees to ?teacher quality? issues and with varying degrees of success. This forum will examine and compare how four states have addressed teacher quality issues since the passage of NCLB. Presenters: Linda Darling Hammond, Stanford University: Rich Schwab, University of Connecticut; Sandy Robinson, University of Central Florida; Carmen Coballes-Vega

Second General Session, Wendy D. Puriefoy, President/CEO, Public Education Network is a leader in public school reform, civil society engagement, and philanthropy for more than 20 years. She has written and spoken extensively on these issues, particularly with regard to equity in education and opportunity for poor and disadvantaged children. She became deeply involved in school reform in the 1970s, when she served in Judge Arthur Garritty?s office as a special monitor of the court? ordered desegregation plan for Boston?s public schools. In 1979, she became the executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Boston Foundation, a community foundation with an endowment of over $750 million supporting public health/welfare, educational, cultural, environmental, and housing programs in Boston.

Major Forum: Lessons from the Teachers for a New Era Experience for National Education Policy will discuss the implications of the Teachers for a New Era (TNE) initiative for the reauthorization of both the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind [NCLB]) and the Higher Education Act. Referencing recommendations this panel made when they met with U.S. Representative George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, in 2007, they will describe the critical issues that underscore the important role higher education can play in the success of NCLB. In this session, panelists will discuss key recommendations made to Representative Miller, such as a focus on improved data systems, support for academy-based induction, and the production of highly qualified and effective teachers through teacher education programs offered by institutions of higher education. University representatives will share specific examples from their institutions regarding these important issues, including: successes in using pupil achievement data to effect program change; the need for state education databases; the value of university-based teacher preparation that includes induction programs; and the impact of TNE at their institutions. Presenters: Ed Crowe, Teachers for a New Era; Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University; Dan Fallon, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Harry Hellenbrand, California State University, Northridge; Augusta Kappner, Bank Street College of Education; Lou Anna Simon, Michigan State University; Mike Timpane, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Academy for Educational Development

Major Forum: Educating All Children for a Sustainable Future A healthy democracy and a sustainable future cannot thrive without an educated population. This forum will explore the purposes of education beyond ensuring intellectual competency and workforce opportunities for our P-12 graduates. Panelists will discuss the important role the educator preparation profession plays in ensuring that all P-12 students understand the responsibility of civic engagement and their role in contributing to a sustainable world. Presenters: Peter Yarrow, United Voices for Education; Deborah Rowe, DANS Network; Susan Meyers, San Jose State University; Robert Helfenbein, Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis; Khuala Murtadha, Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis

A Breakfast Conversation With Student Survivors Tickets: $60 Start the morning by celebrating the children of New Orleans, as students share their stories of struggle and triumph in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Their courage will inspire you, their insights will amaze you, and their personal accounts will touch your heart. This uplifting event includes a selection by a local middle school band and an opportunity to honor a group of schoolchildren who are determined to resume their education in the aftermath of the storm.

Third General Session, Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Dean, School of Education, University of Michigan draws on her many years of experience as an elementary classroom teacher in her expert research, which focuses on mathematics instruction and on interventions designed to improve its quality and effectiveness, with a particular interest in how professional training and experience combine to equip teachers with the skills and knowledge needed for effective practice. She was a principal investigator on the Study of Instructional Improvement, a large longitudinal study of efforts to improve instruction in reading and mathematics in high?poverty urban elementary schools. She has also led investigations into the nature of the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching and developed survey measures that make possible analyses of the relations among teachers? mathematical knowledge, the quality of their teaching, and their students? performance.

Major Forum: When Multiple Technologies Take Learning to a Higher Level: The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) Framework and Curricular Exemplars Join AACTE for the release of The Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) for Educators which is the first comprehensive scholarly book exploring this increasingly important concept and offering a research-based conceptual framework for teachers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to integrate multiple technologies into teaching and learning. This forum will present a TPCK theoretical framework, contextual and access issues, and instructional strategies for integrating multiple technologies and related pedagogies to improve student learning. Content-based examples of exemplary TPCK development for educators will be showcased. This forum will present a theoretical framework, related contextual issues, and instructional strategies for integrating multiple technologies and related pedagogies into teacher education. Content-based examples of exemplary TPCK development for educators will be showcased. The authors maintain that teachers? TPCK is key to successful curriculum-based technology integration. By shifting technology integration from the current ?technocentric? model to the new TPCK model, they assert that technologies increasingly will be seen not as stand-alone additions to teacher education but as vital tools applied specifically and uniquely in each subject matter domain and fully integrated into instructional settings. Sponsored by the AACTE Committee on Innovation and Technology. Presenters: Dr. Joan E. Hughes, University of Texas at Austin; Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler, Michigan State University; Mario Kelly, Hunter College CUNY; Joe Garofalo, University of Virginia; Marcela Van Olphen, University of South Florida and Joel Colbert, Chapman University (Moderator)

Major Forum: Journal of Teacher Education. Letters to the 44th President of the United States In preparation for the upcoming presidential election the JTE editors would like to invite members of the AACTE community to provide candidates for the 44th President of the United States with sage advice to shape agendas for ensuring teacher quality teacher preparation and development. To seed this conversation we have invited a panel of prominent scholars in teacher education to offer their counsel and opinion in this major forum as well as an upcoming invited theme issue of the journal. Presenters: David Berliner, Arizona State University; Ann Lieberman & Desiree Pointer Mace, Teachers College - Columbia University; Lee Shulman, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Art Levine, Woodrow Wilson Foundation; Renee Clift, University of Illinois; Kathy Escamilla, University of Colorado ? Boulder; Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin-Madison

International Luncheon, Teacher Education and the Dream of Education for All: Perspectives from England and Scotland Tickets: $60 The term education for all, widely associated with universal access to education, remains important even in countries that have compulsory school attendance laws. In such countries, the idea of education for all is focused on a dream of equality of opportunity, where all learners are enabled to participate in all aspects of social life, contribute to the common good, and share in the wealth that is created. But even in these countries, education for all is fraught with challenges relating to quality, equity, and access. Which children and young people have the right to receive which forms of education, who shall teach them, and where should they learn? This presentation advances the debate about the role of teacher preparation and development, particularly university?based teacher education, in achieving the dream of education for all. Illustrative examples will be drawn from recent policies in England and Scotland aimed at tackling community disadvantage, social exclusion, and educational failure through multidisciplinary teamwork and reform of the educational Speakers: Lani Florian and Martyn Rouse University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland

Major Forum: Developing and Using Performance Assessments to Determine Teacher Quality: The Case Study of California Efforts to develop performance assessments for new teachers have been underway for years, and California is one state that has been at the forefront of this work. The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has recently approved the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). Panelists will discuss the development of the PACT model, report on its implementation to-date, and discuss implications for using this model in other states. Presenters: Linda Darling Hammond, Stanford University; Dale Janssen, head of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, David Pearson, founder of PACT and UC-Berkeley Dean; Susan Meyers, San Jose State University; Beverly Young, CSU-Chancellor?s office.

Major Forum: Developing Diverse Leadership in Teacher Education This session discusses cultural pluralism within the ranks of deans and directors of teacher education in the United States and explores ways of recruiting leaders from underrepresented populations into leadership positions. An invited panel of leaders and prospective leaders from teacher education programs across the country will address the current situation and describe successful efforts to ensure cultural diversity within the ranks of deans and directors of teacher education programs. Presenters: Toni Griego Jones, University of Arizona (Moderator) AERA; Clara Jennings, De Paul University; Mary Dilworth, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; Josie Tinajero, University of Texas, El Paso; Ronald Rochon, Buffalo State College; Louis Castanell, University of Georgia; Holmes Scholar - Doctoral student, TBA ; Alicia Ardila-Rey, AACTE

Fourth General Session - The 2008 Town Hall Meeting will bring together views of quality from the conceptual to the operational. Mike Cohen will comment on his work to bring a more ambitious view of quality and adequacy to the work of high schools through the efforts of the Achieve program. Paul Vallas, superintendent of the Recovery School District in New Orleans, will discuss his efforts to establish a reliable source of quality education for students returning to New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Rose Duhon?Sales, dean of the college of education at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), will share her experience working with a group of students in a SUNO?sponsored charter school, including the work necessary to address the psychological dimensions of recovery. Kenji Hakuta, professor of psycholinguistics at Stanford University, will address the challenges involved in addressing the needs of new students in the New Orleans community, many of whom are English language learners. Lynn Olson, managing editor for special projects at Education Week, will share her observations of the city?s recovery efforts, and comment on what she views to be important lessons to be learned from the disaster.

Major Forum: Accreditation The major federal education policy events of recent months will have a direct impact on the accreditation community as a whole. The teacher education accreditation community needs to acknowledge the complex demands of accreditation by addressing issues of student learning outcomes and public accountability in the reauthorization of the higher education act. Judith Eaton and others will focus on the major areas of the HEA that will impact the accrediting agencies and teacher education. Presenters: Judith Eaton, President, Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Other panelists TBD

Major Forum: Leveraging National Reports The results of recently- and soon-to-be released major national reports that address important teacher preparation issues will be presented by research directors and high-profile study panelists. They will interact with policy gurus and the audience on the question: How can these findings be used to improve the profession and ensure a highly effective teacher heads every classroom in the nation? A handout will summarize key study information.
Presenters: Camilla P. Benbow, Peabody College; Drew Gitomer, Educational Testing Service; David Monk, Pennsylvania State University; Kay Schallenkamp, Black Hills State University

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