2026 Annual NYACTE/NYSATE Conference

10:30am EDT

From Paraprofessional to Teacher: Exploring Identity Development and Building Pathways Through a University-District Partnership

Wednesday October 21, 2026 10:30am - 11:20am EDT

Orenda Room

This paper examines a “grow-your-own" teacher preparation program initiative designed to address teacher shortages by supporting paraprofessionals transitioning to certified teachers. Focusing on areas such as program design, partnerships, and identity development, this study highlights how flexible, practice-based pathways can increase access to teacher preparation while strengthening it.

Speakers

Elizabeth Forde

SUNY New Paltz

Collin Cusack

SUNY New Paltz

Rene Parmar

SUNY New Paltz

Wednesday October 21, 2026 10:30am - 11:20am EDT
Orenda Room

Paper Presentation

11:30am EDT

Bridging the P-20 Divide: A 10-Year Longitudinal Analysis of Regional Teacher Preparedness and Multimodal Innovation

Wednesday October 21, 2026 11:30am - 12:20pm EDT

Orenda Room

The panel presents a 10-year longitudinal study evaluating teacher preparedness and hiring trends across the Mid-Hudson region. Presenters share how K-12 and higher education institutions leverage regional employer data to adjust curriculum, apply resources, enhance teacher induction programs, and develop innovative partnerships to address localized educator shortages.

Speakers

Nancy Hackett

SUNY New Paltz

Roberta Greene

Mid-Hudson School Study council

Sunny Duerr

SUNY New Paltz

Olga Dejesus-Diaz

Touro University

Wednesday October 21, 2026 11:30am - 12:20pm EDT
Orenda Room

Panel Presentation

2:15pm EDT

Promoting Intentional Leadership in Special Education Teacher Preparation

Wednesday October 21, 2026 2:15pm - 3:05pm EDT

Orenda Room

This session identifies ways to support development of professional dispositions that enable candidates in teacher education programs to assume leadership roles in their future work as special educators. Research will be shared and participants will discuss ways that teacher preparation programs can intentionally infuse leadership into their special education coursework.

Speakers

Melissa A Jackson

Hunter College, CUNY

The City University of New York, Hunter College

Jamie Bleiweiss

Hunter College, CUNY

Nancy Sall

Assistant Professor, Hunter College, CUNY

Wednesday October 21, 2026 2:15pm - 3:05pm EDT
Orenda Room

Paper Presentation

3:15pm EDT

Constructing Alternative Pathways to Teacher Certification: Opening Doors Through P-20 Partnerships

Wednesday October 21, 2026 3:15pm - 4:05pm EDT

Orenda Room

This panel explores how the Central NY Alternative Teacher Certification Program utilizes P-20 partnerships to provide flexible online programing and candidate support to enable access to teacher certification for TAs and substitute teachers. It highlights how P-20 systems are critical to creating these pathways to teacher certification for nontraditional candidates.

Speakers

Andrea Lachance

SUNY Cortland

Mandy VanDonsel

SUNY Cortland

Colleen Viggiano

Onondaga-Cortland-Madison (OCM) BOCES

Kristen Foland

CiTi (Oswego) BOCES

Cindy Walters

Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga (TST) BOCES

Wednesday October 21, 2026 3:15pm - 4:05pm EDT
Orenda Room

Panel Presentation

10:45am EDT

Looking at the POG as Policy from Candidate to Teacher

Thursday October 22, 2026 10:45am - 11:35am EDT

Orenda Room

NYSED’s Portrait of a Graduate Framework (POG) promises to inspire change in curriculum and teaching across the K-20 spectrum. In K-8, schools are preparing students to be ready for high school and career, while colleges are receiving the newly conceived HS graduates and also preparing the next generation of teachers. NYSED’s NY Inspires Initiative calls on the field to reimagine not only our state requirements for high school graduation, but the intricate series of experiences before and after the completion of high school. It may spawn new policies or regulatory change. In this panel presentation, experts from various disciples will discuss how the POG fits into curricular planning for this new state initiative.

Speakers

Kathy R. Doody

Professor, Buffalo State University

I am the coordinator of the Exceptional Education Early Childhood (B-2) Students with Disabilities Program. This graduate program prepares pre-service and in-service teachers to work with young children with disabilities. My research interests center around autism spectrum disorder... Read More →

Amanda Merritt

SUNY New Paltz

Jennifer Wolfe

Oceanside High School

Laura Spenceley

SUNY Oswego

Joette Stefl-Mabry

Professor, University at Albany

Joette Stefl-Mabry, PhD is a Professor of Information Sciences and Technology in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany. Her areas of research focus on program evaluation, educational assessment, curriculum design, and... Read More →

Leah Lembo

policy analyst, NYSUT

Joanne M. Stiles

SUNY Potsdam

Thursday October 22, 2026 10:45am - 11:35am EDT
Orenda Room

Panel Presentation

11:45am EDT

How do Key Assignments help our Program?

Thursday October 22, 2026 11:45am - 12:35pm EDT

Orenda Room

The special education faculty at SUNY Geneseo rewrote the Teaching Students with Disabilities Programs All Grades to meet the new certification in New York State. We also needed to think about the key assignments for our classes and the skills we wanted to measure to meet the Standards for the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). We wanted to be sure to develop key assignments that would meet AAQEP Standards but also meet the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Standards as well so that we could apply for recognition from CEC as well. (Although we have faced some funding issues, we are hopeful this will be a priority for the 2026-2027 academic year). The overarching goal we had to referring to for our assignments was making sure we prepared students for the changing workforce they would enter and created problem solvers who could teach all students. Our key assignments reflect a broad range of skills and start in Block I of our program and culminate in Block VI, student teaching. We would like to share our thought process with you and the rubrics developed.

Speakers

Susan Salmon

SUNY Geneseo

Annmarie Urso

Professor of Special Education, SUNY Geneseo

Teacher Education, Assessment for Learning Disabilities and Dyslexia, Best practices for teaching students with Learning Disabilities, IEP development, Special Education Program development, my grandkids, and dog!

Michael Rozalski

SUNY Geneseo

Jennifer Waddington

SUNY Geneseo

Thursday October 22, 2026 11:45am - 12:35pm EDT
Orenda Room

Panel Presentation

2:00pm EDT

Teacher Residency Apprenticeships: Redesigning, Rethinking, and Reimagining Teacher Preparation

Thursday October 22, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT

Orenda Room

This presentation examines the development and implementation of a residency apprenticeship teacher preparation program at St. John Fisher University. Presenters representing district and university personnel will discuss university and district partnerships, program redesign, supervision structures and restructuring, implementation challenges, and early outcomes related to teacher preparation and candidate support.

Speakers

Kathleen A. Broikou

St. John Fisher University

Allison Bosworth

St. John Fisher University

Rich Ognibene

St. John Fisher University

Jean Ann Hunt

EDHUBNY

Joseph Englebert

Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES

Thursday October 22, 2026 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
Orenda Room

Panel Presentation

3:00pm EDT

Anchored in Community: Growing Sustainable Partnerships Through Seed Grant Innovation

Thursday October 22, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT

Orenda Room

Three faculty-led initiatives in early childhood education, teacher pipeline development, and literacy support for multilingual learners showcase how seed grants can transform innovative ideas into enduring partnerships. Panelists will share lessons on leveraging internal funding to advance equity, strengthen professional learning, and deepen an institution's role as a community anchor.

Speakers

Maria Mavrides Calderon

Hunter College, CUNY

Megan Demarkis

Coordinator, Hunter College, CUNY

Megan Demarkis, MSW (Silberman School of Social Work), is a bilingual educator, community organizer, and coalition builder with more than 25 years of experience in NYC public education, youth development, and immigrant advocacy. She has dedicated her career to building programs that... Read More →

Christine Rosalia

Associate Professor of TESOL, Hunter College, CUNY

Teacher Professional Development (P-12 and adult teachers of English language learners/ Multilinguals),
Integrating Educational Technologies and Computational Thinking into Teaching and Learning/ Technoskepticism
Service-Learning

Virginia Gryta

Hunter College, CUNY

Jody Polleck

Hunter College, CUNY

Thursday October 22, 2026 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
Orenda Room

Panel Presentation

4:00pm EDT

Integrating the Science of Reading in Educator Preparation

Thursday October 22, 2026 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT

Orenda Room

In this panel presentation, we will consider work underway at The City University of New York (CUNY) to integrate culturally responsive, evidence-based practices for teaching literacy that are grounded in the Science of Reading (SoR). We will describe work underway at 5 CUNY colleges under the Path Forward initiative, including comprehensive redesign of coursework, assessments and clinical experiences to further integrate evidence-based practices aligned with the SoR across the trajectory of candidate learning experiences. We will also consider CUNY Reading Fellows (CRF) as an example of SoR-aligned literacy fieldwork for pre-service educators. We will describe training for pre-service educators in SoR aligned reading interventions that incorporate strategies for diverse learners and techniques for ongoing support to ensure program fidelity and culturally responsive techniques. We will describe processes for data collection and analysis, impacts on pre-service educators and striving readers, and examine outcomes for multilingual learners and other subgroups. We will also describe multimodal approaches used with pre-service educators such as virtual classroom features for remote instruction, and hands-on materials used for in-person instruction.

Speakers