About OCTEO

Learn about OCTEO's members, leadership, and purpose

The Ohio Confederation of Teacher Education Organizations (OCTEO) is a non-profit, state-wide umbrella organization that brings together five Ohio teacher education organizations at a spring and fall conference each year. The member organizations are:

• Ohio Association of Teacher Educators (OATE) -- this group has individual members who are faculty at various Ohio colleges and universities.
• JOIN OATE HERE (printable form you can mail or email in)

• Ohio Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (OACTE)--this group is the Ohio affiliate of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Membership is by institution.

• Ohio Association of Private Colleges of Teacher Education (OAPCTE) --this group includes the Colleges of Teacher Education from the Private schools across Ohio.  Membership for this association is by Institution as well.

• State University Education Deans (SUED)--this group consists of the Deans of all state-supported institutions in Ohio.

• Ohio Field Directors Forum (OFDF)--this group consists of individuals who coordinate reciprocal agreements between school districts and universities for placement of student teachers.

Untangling the OCTEO Acronyms

OCTEO  -  The Ohio Confederation of Teacher Education Organizations is a facilitation structure only. It is the shell that provides the time and space for the other organizations to meet at the same time and place.  OCTEO is the contact for all hotel services, collects fees that covers meals and room usage and serves as the coordinator of the 3 day conferences.  The OCTEO planning committee (sometimes called the executive committee) is composed of the president and president-elect of the member organizations, the OCTEO treasurer and the conference coordinator.

OACTE  -  The Ohio Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is the state affiliate of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.  Institutional membership is based on a sliding scale ranging from $75-400 per year, depending on the number of program completers.  All institutions with teacher education programs are eligible for membership.

OATE  -  The Ohio Association of Teacher Educators is the state affiliate of the Association for Teacher Educators.  It is the only individual membership organization in OCTEO.  OATE currently has over 100 members and they publish the OHIO Journal of Teacher Education twice each year.

SUED  -   The State University Education Deans includes the education deans from the 13 state supported institutions in Ohio.  They meet monthly throughout the year, including a dinner meeting at each OCTEO conference.

OAPCTE  -  The Ohio Association of Private Colleges for Teacher Education includes representatives of private colleges in Ohio.  They meet monthly including a meeting of the executive committee and full membership at OCTEO.

OFDF  -  The Ohio Field Directors Forum grew out of a desire on the part of field directors to have a forum to discuss their particular concerns and needs.  Currently they do not have a formal organization but OCTEO provides a time and palce for them to gather during each of our conferences.

We also work closely with the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Board of Regents.

Leadership

The presidents and president-elects of each of the above organizations are members of the OCTEO Executive Board which governs the actions of OCTEO. The presidency of OCTEO rotates between the president of OACTE and OATE (OCTEO's two founding organizations). The president of the organization not serving as the president of OCTEO serves as the conference chair.

Purpose

OCTEO's Articles of Confederation state its purpose as:

1. To provide opportunities for the membership to share ideas and consider mutual issues and concerns.
2. To formulate and advance positions relating to teacher education.
3. To disseminate information relative to local, state, and national initiatives/trends pertaining to teacher education.
4. To serve as a unified, articulate voice for teacher education in Ohio.

Conferences

To accomplish its goals, OCTEO holds two three-day conferences each year, one in October and one in April. Each conference is attended by about 150 to 175 teacher educators. The conferences consist of two general sessions where invited presenters from around the country speak about the selected topic. The committee also selects 12 breakout session presentations from proposals submitted by teacher educators and teacher education stakeholders.

Joanne Arhar

OCTEO 08-09 Program Chair

Bob Thomas,

OCTEO Conference Coordinator