In this episode we hear from Dr. Jennifer Gresko of Rio Salado College and Heather Merrill of Glendale Community College discuss the joint bachelor of elementary education and special education program they share with Paradise Valley Community College in the Maricopa County Community College District, MCCCD. When state legislation passed to allow community colleges to offer bachelor degrees in 2021, Jennifer and Heather joined forces to create a dual certification bachelor degree. Born from existing associates and post-baccalaureate programs, the knowledge that all teachers need special education training, and requests from students and districts, the BAEE/SpEd program set out to lessen the teacher shortage in Arizona.

Their collaboration doesn't stop with the accredited program, it continues as the students, the teacher candidates, who may face unique needs are able to take courses at any of the three colleges because of their shared curriculum and the flexibility of the in-person and online modalities. At a price under $13,000, and the opportunity for state backed scholarships specifically for future teachers, the degree is among the most affordable paths to becoming a teacher.

For more information, please visit https://www.maricopa.edu/degrees-certificates/bachelors-degrees/elementary-education-special-education-baee-sped

As we continue the conversation with Kim Eckert, Craft Education's head of Instructional Innovation and Apprenticeship Design and former Louisiana Teacher of the Year in this second half of our two-part series, we learn about how to start small while aiming for larger scale implementation. By gathering all the constituents a program will need, such as higher education faculty, district leadership, as well as legislative and funding personnel, building a sustainable teacher apprenticeship program becomes a realistic possibility.

Ms. Eckert can be reached at kim.eckert@crafteducation.com

In this first half of our two-part series with Craft Education's  head of Instructional Innovation and Apprenticeship Design, Kim Eckert, we learn why teacher apprenticeships are vitally important to the future of teacher education. As part of that importance, we also hear how community colleges are ideally positioned to lead this work that endeavors to break down the financial barriers that traditional student teaching often brings to teacher candidates who may already have families. Additionally, teacher apprenticeships keep paraprofessionals who are already community members within the schools and communities they already serve.

In this episode we here from Dr. Kevin Spooner, Associate Dean of Education at Warner Pacific University, Tanya Mead, Chair of the Education Department at Portland Community College, Uma Joshi-Garcia from the Multnomah Service District Grow Your Own Program, and Andreina Velasco a Grow Your Own Pathway Navigator from the David Douglas School District. Listen as this collaborative team discusses the value of Grow Your Own programs for teacher candidates and how the college and university work to ensure teacher candidates can be successful. They discuss how being navigators is so much more than simply mentoring students on financial, admissions, and course decisions, but also incorporates seeing to their emotional well-being so that the teacher candidates can feel safe and confident. In particular, they highlight that the retention rate in GYO programs is between 85-90%.

In addition to being able to positively affect the diversity of the teaching profession, they are advocating for diversifying the teacher preparation workforce by incorporating more teachers of color, more teachers who've recently been in the classroom, and more teachers who've gone through alternative or non-traditional teacher preparation programs.

Ken Spero is the founder and President of SchoolSims. In this episode he discusses how the choose-your-own-adventure style of the scenarios that make up the simulations, or sims, can help to deisolate, improve self-confidence, and allow for self-reflection for teachers and school leaders across the spectrum from pre-pre-service to long established teachers and leaders. His favorite quote from Viktor Frankl is "Between stimulus and response there is a space, and in that space is our power to choose." SchoolSims focuses on that space, drawing from individuals personal experiences and what they've been taught about teaching or leading, to help them explore how they might react in different situations.

Further discussion and a demonstration of SchoolSims will happen during a NACCTEP hosted webinar in April, so please keep an eye out for communication on that.

In the meantime, you can check out SchoolSims.com or reach out to Ken at kspero@schoolsims.com.

As we prepare to meet in New Orleans next week NACCTEP is checking in with Dr. Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, AACTE. During this discussion we hear how her first year in the position has advocated for the reinstatement of grant funding for educator preparation, how she has traveled to 32 states to learn more about their policies and regulations as part of her state strategy, and how community colleges and universities are addressing the affordability of entering the teaching profession.

Additionally, Dr. Holcomb-McCoy gives a preview of one of two new initiatives that will be introduced at the 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, a call to action around a new federal policy roadmap. She also talked about how innovation and technology is leading AACTE to create a new professional development platform for both members working in higher education teacher preparation programs, but also for graduates of those programs as they enter the teaching field. These are just some of the ways that she, and AACTE are reclaiming the narrative around the strength of educators and the importance of education.

The NACCTEP Pre-conference will be held on Thursday, February 19, 2026 alongside AACTE's other pre-conferences at the Sheraton New Orleans. The 2026 AACTE Annual Meeting will follow from February 20th - 22nd at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street. There is still time to register!

#StrongerTogether

Listen in as assistant professors Theresa Robinson and Melissa Lebowitz from the Community College of Baltimore County share the latest updates on their programs. From receiving a Feds2Eds grant to develop programming for displaced government workers to enter the teaching workforce to the Degrees to Succeed partnerships with nine institutions, CCBC is making great strides throughout educator preparation. They also have mock classrooms being set up on both the Essex and Catonsville campuses with all the latest technology that they expect to be ready for use this spring.

Also discussed is how AI can be responsibly and ethically used in the classroom. This includes incorporating assignments that require the use of AI to create rubrics or to create letters that can be compared to one's own version.

The conversation also turns to how the Baltimore County Public School System has created two programs to introduce middle school/junior high students to community college instructors, administrators, and athletes who look like them in order to show that their futures are wide open.

In this first episode of 2026 NACCTEP chats with Rebecca Saiz - Executive Director of Lone Star College Educator Preparation Program, Dr. Christina Puente - Department Chair, and Dr. JeQuila Broussard - Lead Field Supervisor from Lone Star College about how they've transitioned from a checklist driven evaluation system for teacher candidates to a reflective system. This new method allows the college supervisor to become a coach guiding and encouraging the teacher candidates on their journey to becoming an effective teacher. As part of the transition, a common vocabulary comes into play so that both the supervisors and the teachers can communicate successes, expectations, and room for improvement, or "Glow, Grow, and Go" as they've termed it.

A further discussion of this system will be held at an interactive roundtable during the NACCTEP Pre-Conference in New Orleans on the afternoon of February 19, 2026. For further information on the 2026 NACCTEP Pre-Conference, please visit https://www.nacctep.org/professional-development-events/2026-pre-conference