La. schools chief touts teacher training program – By Will Sentell, Baton Rouge Advocate

State Superintendent of Education John White told two U. S. House subcommittees Wednesday that Louisiana’s overhaul of teacher training will provide major dividends.

“College seniors aspiring to be teachers in Louisiana now experience year-long residencies under the tutelage of full-time mentor educators singularly dedicated to the resident’s development, so that every graduate of our colleges of education is validated as an effective teacher before his or her first day of full employment,” White said in written testimony.

“We owe it to teachers and to their students to prepare them in a professional manner and to declare them effective before they take a full-time job as a classroom teacher,” he said.

White was one of four educators who appeared before the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment and the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education.

The panels are exploring how the federal Higher Education Act can better support teachers.

White noted that the changes in Louisiana stemmed in part from a survey of teachers.

“More than 6,000 educators responded, and the results were humbling,” he said.

“Educators overwhelmingly said they were not prepared to teach in their first years in the classroom, and that they wished they would have had more time to practice actually teaching under the tutelage of a highly-educated mentor prior to their first day alone in the classroom,” White said.

Why cybersecurity training programs are critical – By Bob Rashotte, eSchool News

As more and more schools are implementing cybersecurity training programs, the role of IT leaders in the K-12 environment is changing from a technology focus to a more strategic focus on the enablement of digital learning and digital transformation.

However, this is new territory for most schools, and they feel the need for guidance on how to begin. What questions do educational institutions need to ask, and what kind of opportunities can be achieved after students receive certifications?

In the 2015-2016 global survey of IT professionals by Enterprise Strategy Group, 42 percent of organizations reported a problematic shortage of cybersecurity skills. Concern over finding skilled cybersecurity talent has grown every year since then. By 2019, the number had grown to 53 percent.

This concern and the reality behind it are growing faster than traditional four-year colleges and universities can remedy on their own. Though higher education should of course continue its efforts, cybersecurity training needs to start in kindergarten and continue all the way through high school in order to raise up a security-savvy generation – some of whom will become tomorrow’s much-needed cybersecurity professionals.

Are there alternatives to closing schools? Chicago parents consider options – By Adeshina Emmanuel, Chalkbeat

In a district with more than 200 under-enrolled schools, what options do parents and community leaders have besides school closings? 

Charging that there is a lack of clear policy direction from City Hall and Chicago Public Schools on the topic, a pair of parent advocacy groups set up a two-day workshop on the West Side to help educate community members on their options — from sharing vacant space with other schools or community groups to lobbying the district for different attendance boundaries or coming up with plans to boost enrollment.

The information was welcome to community organizer Chanita Jones-Howard, a teacher at South Shore International College Preparatory High School who furiously scribbled notes during presentations and brainstormed solutions with other attendees in small group discussions.

She said she feared future school closings could target shrinking neighborhood high schools in the Great Stony Island area, which includes predominantly black communities, such as South Shore, Greater Grand Crossing, Auburn Gresham, and dwindling high schools such as Emil G. Hirsch Metropolitan High School and Harlan Community Academy High School. She wondered whether the school district or city has a long-term vision for neighborhood schools wrestling with shrinking enrollment and disrepair.

Should community colleges offer bachelor's degrees? – By Natalie Schwartz, Education Dive

Indian River State — a community college located halfway between Florida's bustling port cities of Palm Beach and Cape Canaveral — has sought to meet the state's workforce development goals for more than 50 years. 

Yet a major barrier has been in its way. The stretch of eastern coastal Florida that it serves has few four-year colleges, with the closest public university more than 60 miles away.

That poses a challenge to drawing companies in need of skilled workers. So in 2008, Indian River State took advantage of a Florida law that allows community colleges to launch bachelor's programs if they can help meet the state's workforce needs. 

Indian River is far from alone. Community colleges awarded more than 17,000 bachelor's degrees in 2014, up from about 1,700 in 2000, according to a working paper from University of Florida researchers. In total, 121 two-year institutions offer bachelor's degrees, according to data from the University of Washington's Community College Research Initiatives.