Good morning everyone and thank you for the opportunity to provide comments to the State Board of Education at your February 2nd Board Meeting.

My name is Katherine Roe and I am the Chair of the Education & Educational Psychology Department at Western Connecticut State University. AACTE-CT is an association of thirteen public and private colleges and universities that provide Educator Preparation Programs to students interested in the education profession. We promote and strongly support high quality teaching and education in the state’s schools and are advocates for robust educational
leadership.

On behalf of the AACTE-CT, thank you to the Board of Education, Commissioner Russell-Tucker, the Department of Education, and especially to those individuals who many of us from AACTE-CT work with on a regular basis.

As you are aware school districts are experiencing critical shortages for teaching, administrators, and staff. Western Connecticut State University in collaboration with other AACTE-CT EPPs continue work to address this issue. To address the immediate need, we partner with high-need local school districts and provide support using teacher candidates as daily substitutes, tutors, and paraprofessionals. But we need more. As overall college enrollment is down the same is true for teacher education programs. Your leadership is needed to help with our recruitment efforts to identify funding sources to help attract and retain high-quality diverse candidates as well as enforcing student loan reform.

AACTE-CT will continue to work together with the Department of Education, the Board, and the various educational stakeholders such as the Connecticut Association of Public-School Superintendents (CAPSS), the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), and other education organizations where appropriate.

Please continue to feel free to reach out to our association on issues of mutual interest. Our faculty and staff are a resource.Thank you again for the opportunity to address the Board this morning.

Katherine Roe, Ph.D.
Education & Educational Psychology
Elementary Education Program
Western Connecticut State University
WH 321A
Danbury, CT 06810
(203) 837-3263
roek@wcsu.edu
Twitter: @katherine_roe
Instagram: WCSU Education Programs