The annual Consortium of State Organizations for Texas Teacher Education (CSOTTE) conference took place Oct. 13–15 in San Marcos. ATPE had a big role in the conference, serving as an event sponsor, taking part in a Lege 101 presentation, recruiting new members, and even seeing a past state president honored during the awards dinner Sunday evening.

CSOTTE is a nonprofit organization with the mission to provide support and development for educator preparation programs and school personnel. It is an umbrella organization for 10 smaller member organizations: Associate and Assistant Deans and Directors of Texas (ADoT); Education Deans of Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas (EDICUT); Texas Alternative Certification Association (TACA); Texas Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs (TACCTEP); Texas Association of Certification Officers (TACO); Texas Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (TACTE); Texas Coordinators for Teacher Certification Testing (TCTCT); Texas Directors of Field Experiences (TDFE); and Texas Association of Teacher Educators (TxATE). CSOTTE holds an annual fall teacher education conference, publishes research on teacher education, and gives awards for educator preparation quality.

ATPE has long been a CSOTTE conference sponsor This year, ATPE Membership Specialist Yvette Milner and her husband John, who serves as president of Region 20 ATPE, represented ATPE at the conference, signing up new members and answering membership questions.

On Sunday, during the awards dinner on the first day of the conference, ATPE Past State President Deann Lee was honored by CSOTTE member organization TxATE with the Ted Booker Memorial Award. This award is given in honor of Ted Booker, a former president and dean of the College of Education at Texas Woman’s University. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of teacher education.

On Monday, ATPE Lobbyist Tricia Cave was a presenter at the conference along with colleagues from the TCEP (Texas Coalition for Educator Preparation), of which ATPE is a founding member. The Lege 101 presentation included basic information about how state government and regulatory bodies work, as well as information about interim hearings and what to expect during the 89th legislative session, which begins in January. The presenters challenged attendees to find ways to get involved, from small tasks such as voting to larger efforts such as testifying before a legislative committee. TCEP also gave an advocacy presentation Tuesday that went into more detail about getting involved in advocating for public education and educator preparation.

ATPE was proud to sponsor the CSOTTE conference and is excited to work with our partners in TCEP to build relationships with our teacher education and preparation colleagues.