What is MACTE?  Many of you are familiar with MACTE. But, for new BOT members and some people observing this meeting, we would like to provide a brief introduction to our organization.  The Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, or MACTE, is a state chapter of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.   MACTE is a voluntary organization comprised of 32 educational institutions and one affiliate member.  MACTE serves all learners in an ever-changing society through its commitment to high and consistent standards for every teacher.

MACTE represents all three Minnesota education systems, including seven Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, four University of Minnesota campuses, and 21 independent colleges. Our teacher preparation programs offer diversity in size, focus and delivery, but all are designed to prepare quality teachers for Minnesota’s schools. MACTE was founded in 1973 to clarify and address issues in teaching and learning; to promote quality teacher preparation and development; and to share the collective knowledge and data of all state-approved teacher education programs.  We are dedicated to providing leadership in the preparation and development of highly qualified professional educators. (See full position paper)

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Sept 2011 MACTE minute-draft.doc	47.5 KB

For many years, both of the major accrediting organizations in the country, the National Council for Accreditation of Colleges of Teachers Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC), have organized its unit evaluation system around knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching. The new Model Core Teaching Standards from the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) identifies critical dispositions within each of its 10 standards for teaching. In both of these instances, the expectations of teacher candidates’ dispositions refer to their fundamental belief that all students can learn . . . and, I would add, can learn rigorous, academic content. The InTASC standards call for teachers who respect students’ differing strengths, teachers who are committed to using students’ strengths as a basis for growth, teachers who will take responsibility for promoting students’ growth and development, and teachers who value the contributions of families, colleagues and other professionals to their understanding of each student’s development. We applaud our professional field on the development of these guiding principles for our ongoing program development.  (See complete position statement)

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May 2011 MACTE Minute.pdf	130.33 KB

On March 23, 2011 a post written by Linda Darling-Hammond was added to a blog, “The Answer Sheet,” provided by Valerie Strauss and published by the Washington Post. MACTE shares some of Dr. Hammond’s statements by reading the opening paragraphs of her blog post which was titled Darling-Hammond: U.S. vs highest-achieving nations in education. She writes:

 “The first ever International Summit on Teaching, convened last week in New York City, showed perhaps more clearly than ever that the United States has been pursuing an approach to teaching almost diametrically opposed to that pursued by the highest-achieving nations.

In a statement rarely heard these days in the United States, the Finnish Minister of Education launched the first session of last week’s with the words: “We are very proud of our teachers.” Her statement was so appreciative of teachers’ knowledge, skills, and commitment that one of the U.S. participants later confessed that he thought she was the teacher union president, who, it turned out, was sitting beside her agreeing with her account of their jointly-constructed profession.

There were many “firsts” in this remarkable Summit. It was the first time the United States invited other nations to our shores to learn from them about how to improve schools, taking a first step beyond the parochialism that has held us back while others have surged ahead educationally.  (See full position paper)

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April2011MACTEminute-option1.pdf	105.77 KB