This month EdWeek published an article that brought light to the lesser known facts about corporal punishment. Check out these six key highlights that teachers should be aware of:

Find out what AAE member Jill Cullis says about how teacher-training programs may have failed to prepare teachers for their work in the classroom in our latest edition of Education Matters. Here is a sample of the article….

I was raised hearing the phrase, “Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach. Those that can’t teach, teach teachers.” Although this is a damning statement that greatly offends me as a classroom teacher of 29 years, I have wondered if there is any truth to it - at least the last part of that phrase.

Teachers and administrators know it’s not just the time spent in the classroom that counts but the social and emotional learning that takes place at home and outside the classroom, too.

Referred to by many as “the missing link” in education, national education research overwhelmingly supports the finding that students do better academically and socially when parents and teachers work together and children show up at school ready to learn.

After passing in the U.S. House on December 2nd by a vote of 359-64, the U.S. Senate today officially passed the buck on the Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177) to President Obama’s desk by a vote of 85-12, where it awaits final approval.

In July the U.S Supreme Court decided that it would take up the Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association case. The case challenges the union’s ability to collect dues from employees who may not wish to be a part of the union, or object to the use of their dues on issues which they fundamentally disagree with.

AAE became a Friend of the Court this past March. The issue of teacher freedom of choice is at the heartbeat of AAE’s founding and many AAE members have been instrumental in bringing this issue to light.. As of our last update on the case, provided by AAE member and fellow plaintiff Karan Cuen, we did not know when the case would be heard exactly.

Alabama State Teacher of the Year and finalist for National Teacher of the Year, Ann Marie Corgill resigned from teaching after 21 years this week. By all accounts, Ms. Corgill was an excellent teacher. She was a National Board Certified Teacher. Her students, colleagues, and principal all spoke well of her. She was a mentor to other teachers and a published author. Moreover, there’s every indication that she loved her students and that she loved her job. What could possibly drive such a talent out of the system?

The answer is teacher licensing.

“Smart, Skilled, and Striving” – a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) – was just released this week as a means to answer the question, “How do we attract more teachers to the teaching profession?” They claim the solution is to raise the bar.

Researchers assert that more new teachers will enter the education workforce if the profession is seen as a more prestigious and respected profession. There are 6 primary proposals the come from this report:

National Employee Freedom Week (NEFW) is a national campaign aimed at educating teachers and other employees about their options regarding union membership. NEFW was co-created by AAE and the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI) because labor unions like the NEA don’t inform their members of their legal rights to opt-out of membership, leaving millions of teachers and other employees completely unaware that they have options.

The Foundation for Excellence in Education released the 2014 Digital Learning Report Card last month. The report details state policies on digital learning based on their alignment to the 10 Elements of High-Quality Digital Learning.

Last week, AAE asked teachers to give us their favorite teacher stories. Many of our members became educators because of a teacher’s impact in their own lives. As we wrap up another great Teacher Appreciation Week 2015, we want to share some of those stories with you!

Earlier this month, AAE joined an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in support of the petition for certiorari in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association as part of a continuing effort to give individual teachers a professional voice outside the union.

This case is set to challenge the compulsory union dues laws in California and across the nation.

Did you know...?

The Arkansas Education Association dictates that teachers may only resign membership during a small, unadvertised window in the fall.  If a teacher misses this deadline, s/he is forced to pay membership dues for the entire school year.

Amidst discussion of universal preschool, a new form of preschool has emerged out of the tech world - and it’s opening up the doors for school choice supporters all across the globe.

I received a National School Choice Week flyer in my mailbox yesterday.  It had a picture of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and US Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) shaking hands and smiling.  Obviously, they both agree that school choice is an important issue.  That image stuck with me.  In a nation so politically divided, it’s rare to see such bipartisanship.

Did you miss the State of the Union Address?  If you did, here is AAE’s take from the speech….

In light of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, we wanted to keep teachers abreast of the education-related policy proposals laid out by President Obama.

The two most important education components of last night’s address involved the Student Digital Privacy Act and expanding school access to the internet.

Mike Antonucci from the Education Intelligence Agency couldn’t have put it better when he said that for unions to really make great strides on behalf of Millenials in the teaching profession it “would require sacrificing the interests of those in the room for those still outside of the building.”

You’ve heard it all before. The leading issue facing education today is the lack of quality of teachers in our schools. Talks of teacher evaluations and school reform have dominated the conversation. And it’s true that quality teachers are key to generating the next generation of America’s leaders.

In virtually EVERY industry in the nation, employees are paid based on their value in the marketplace for the numbers they increase, the skills they perfect, and the value they create for their employers. This is not the case in public education.

When 9,000 National Education Association members from across the country gathered in Denver for their annual conference last week, they made it easy to understand why union membership is in sharp decline.