This episode has NACCTEP Now in conversation with Dr. Jerell Hill, currently Dean of Counseling and Guided Pathways at Los Angeles City College and Affiliated Scholar at the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. Dr. Hill's background from being a first generation community college student through to both public and private universities encompasses more than twenty-five years in education, including as a classroom teacher working with special education students in middle and high school settings before moving into school and district administrative roles. All of these roles have shaped Dr. Hill's research interests which include teacher preparation, academic achievement, educational equity, and student motivation among several other areas.

Dr. Hill discusses the need for leaders to be learners, that students can be both learners and teachers for their teachers. He describes conscious gratitude as honoring and transforming hardships into purposeful successes and achievements, as resilience and determination in the face of the burdens that students face.

His research and work has shaped his new book Developing Conscious Gratitude in Schools: A Blueprint for Shifting from Burdens to Brilliance (Emerald Publishing).

Darcie Peterson of the IRIS Center is back to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the IRIS Center. In this episode she shares how the IRIS Center's modules and resources are constantly evolving based on the latest research-backed information as well as from user feedback. Their primary focus is translating research into high-quality instructional resources that are accessible and flexible.

Among this year's updates are significant revisions to several modules in the secondary transition and early childhood topic areas, as well as the Measuring Behavior case study. Other tools and supports have been relocated to the For Faculty section of the website, including the Wraparound Resources and Navigation Videos.

In order to reduce confusion around earning a downloadable PD certificate for module completion, IRIS has made changes to the module landing pages offering the choice up front regarding whether or not someone wants the certificate or simply to complete the module without earning the certificate which includes pre- and post-tests. They have also removed the module outlines and will be retiring the answer keys on August 31st.

Lastly, Mrs. Peterson feels the hidden gems of the IRIS Center website are the Fundamental Skill Sheets which can be found using the IRIS Resource Locator.

⁠https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/⁠

⁠https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/resources/faculty/⁠

⁠ https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/resources/iris-resource-locator/⁠

IRIS Fundamental Skill Sheet Spotlight - ⁠https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vEFTMYqk_R4sEcFINFJt1FrD65Lw0qcU/view?usp=sharing⁠

IRIS Top Tips for Faculty - ⁠https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G0v6PEmM-KJ2XN72Mfv20yPIJcVG6ZfX/view?usp=sharing

This special episode bids a fond farewell to Dr. Mark LaCelle-Peterson, Founding President and CEO of the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation, AAQEP, and welcomes Dr. Karen Lowenstein to the role. Together they discuss how AAQEP came to be as an accrediting body for educator preparation programs and emphasize that it is not focused on compliance, rather on context and celebrating the innovations of the EPPs that count as their members.

Together with editors Christine DeGregory and Stephanie Schneider, Drs. LaCelle-Peterson and Lowenstein published Locating Quality in the Dynamic Educator Preparation Landscape: Creating Quality in Context (AAQEP Program Evaluation in Education), a collection of experiences from a variety of of AAQEP accredited programs.