AACTE has announced the recipients of its State Affiliate Support Awards, selecting the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (GACTE) and the New Jersey Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NJACTE) for this year’s competitive grants. The annual award provides up to $7,500 to state affiliate organizations or regional groups to strengthen educator preparation and advance advocacy efforts.
The award committee was chaired by Advisory Council of State Representatives (ACSR) chair-elect Diana Lys, Ed.D., and included representatives of past awardee states. Selected affiliates will use the funding to support projects designed to bolster the educator workforce and improve the experiences of teacher candidates in their respective states.
In New Jersey, the award will launch a first-of-its-kind statewide conference focused on literacy education.
“The New Jersey Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is extremely grateful for the 2026 State Affiliate Support Award,” said LaChan V. Hannon, Ph.D., president of NJACTE. “With this award and in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education, we are able to introduce the inaugural New Jersey Conference on Educator Preparation, focusing on ‘Evidence-Based Culturally Sustaining Literacy Education Practices that Empower Educators and Transform Classrooms.’ This innovative and first-of-its-kind conference for faculty and teachers examines strategies for training and supporting New Jersey educators that highlight best practices in P-12 classrooms.”
Georgia’s affiliate will leverage its grant to deepen statewide research on the financial challenges faced by future educators.
“In Georgia, our state affiliate is working with the Georgia Association of Educators and Prepared to Teach to conduct a statewide Financial Burdens survey to assess the challenges future educators face relative to finances and the completion of educator preparation programs,” said Sheri Hardee, Ph.D., president of GACTE. “This grant will allow us to conduct the Financial Burdens survey statewide across private and public institutions to have a better picture of financial hardship, and this will help our state gather information to support House Bill 310 and Senate Bill 300 to establish state-funded compensation for student teachers.
“We know that teacher recruitment and retention are issues not only state-wide but nationally, and if we want to ensure future educators have the academic, professional, and financial support they need to be successful in educator preparation programs, this type of data is critical for helping us move the needle on this legislation — it contextualizes our students’ circumstances and places their stories at the center of legislation and advocacy for future educators.”
These awards underscore AACTE’s commitment to strengthening educator preparation through state-level collaboration, research, and policy engagement.
To learn more about state advocacy, visit the State section of the AACTE website.