Publications

The Framework for Assessment and Transformation. Educational inequities and broader social injustices harm children, particularly those from historically marginalized groups. These same inequities and injustices weaken the fabric of our democracy. Together as Deans we acknowledge that Colleges and Schools of Education (COEs) play a role in perpetuating as well as transforming such problems. We commit ourselves to building the capacity of COEs to advance justice and education in education. This document offers a framework for guiding this work.

All students deserve equitable access to high-quality literacy and reading instruction and opportunities in their schools. This will only be accomplished when policymakers pay heed to an overall body of high-quality research evidence and then make available the resources necessary for schools to provide our children with the needed supports and opportunities to learn. This joint statement from NEPC and the Education Deans for Justice and Equity provides guiding principles for what any federal or state legislation directly or indirectly impacting reading should and should not do.

Yes, teacher-preparation programs need to be fixed — but more than 350 education leaders say reforms are ‘making things worse,' Washington Post, October 15, 2019. Valerie Strauss reports on the (below) EDJE policy statement published with NEPC.

Seven Trends to Reform U.S. Teacher Education, and the Need to Address Systemic Injustices, policy paper published with NEPC, October 10, 2019. In this statement, over 350 deans and other leaders call for a significant shift in teacher-education programs. We caution against many of the current trends for “reforming” how we prepare teachers for our nation’s public schools. Several of these trends share the fundamental flaw of focusing on hyper-individualistic, market-based solutions linked to failed ideas about student achievement, teacher accountability, rewards, and punishments, rather than addressing legacies of systemic injustices in educational institutions and strategies to increase participatory democracy. The statement concludes with an alternative vision for teacher education that advances equity and justice in our schools.

New York Times letter to the editors written by EDJE members, appeared Sunday, October 23, 2016, Training for Teachers, in response to an Oct. 15 editorial “Help Teachers Before They Get to Class.”

In partnership with the National Education Policy Center, we have created a collective statement on Public Education, Democracy, and the Role of the Federal Government, with endorsements of over 175 current and former deans of colleges and schools of education. We encourage you to endorse the statement, and then to invite colleagues to do the same.

Building on the above Declaration of Principles and in partnership with the National Education Policy Center, we published a new statement — Our Children Deserve Better. Here we discuss the values that underlie our vision for education in a democratic society: protecting and nurturing our children, empowering educators, and investing in public schools. We join with countless others in demanding a better future for our children and our country, and we stand ready to collaborate with federal leaders and all who care about public education as we work to bring this vision into reality.