School/District/University Partnerships:

What are the outcomes? Elizabeth Kozleski, Associate DeanUniversity of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center

NCSD

December, 2005

Beliefs and Assumptions about our Work

4. District/University partnerships are

systemic and therefore we strive to integrate our efforts with district, school, university and community governance and practice.

3. Our inquiry revolves around understanding changes that have been influenced by our collective work.

1. We have a responsibility to engage local, urban schools and systems in an

ongoing partnership for social justice and educational equity for all students.

2. Our practice work – supporting the development of professionals and their communities – must occur in the settings in which we want them to practice.

Incomplete Relationships

SI

schools

TC

universities

Ideal Relationships

School Improvement

universities schools

Ideal Relationships

Teacher Candidates

universities schools

Context for Initial Teacher Education

• Graduate and undergraduate

• Licensure for elementary, secondary and/or special education plus MA

• 12, 18, 24 month options

• Internships in professional development schools (800 hours) or own classroom

• Standards & performance-based

Principal, clinical teachers & other staff

28 PDSs in 6 districts, mostly low-income

Site professor, a faculty member who works in the school one day per week

Site coordinator, a master teacher assigned to work with

the partnership

10-15 teacher candidates in each PDS for 800 hours while earning their

initial license

University of Colorado at Denver• Downtown campus with 2 other higher education institutions

• 33,000 on campus; 12,000 at UCD; 28% ethnic minorities at UCD; 2500 graduate students in SOE

• 26 years old

• School of Education: 1 of 7 UCD schools/colleges

• Graduate initial teacher program + MA (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Elementary, Foreign Language and Dual Special Education)

• Undergraduate initial teacher program (Mathematics, Social Studies, English, and Elementary)

University of Colorado at Denver Professional Development Schools

• PDSs began in 1992 & have steadily grown with program growth (250 licenses per year)

• 28 PDSs in 6 districts, mostly low-income (19 districts in metro area)

• All teacher candidates in PDSs or in own classrooms with 800 hours of internship and a gradual release of responsibility

• Concurrent internships, classes, performance -based assessments

• Site professor: A faculty member in the PDS one day per week

• Site coordinator: A master teacher assigned to work with the partnership

• 10-15 teacher candidates in each PDS for the year in full time program (12 months)

Recursive Assessment Framework

Best Practice

in Teaching,

Learning,

and Leadership

Desired

Learning

Outcomes

Adaptations

in Roles,

Structure, and

Culture

Organizational

Innovation

Lee Teitel, 2001

Organizational InnovationPartnership Development

• Governance and organizational structures– IPTE Leadership Team

– IPTE Council

• Site Professors

• Site Coordinators

• Others

– Lead Instructors

– Partner Principals

– Teacher Ed Research Lab

• Moving from school partners to district partners

Adaptations in Roles, Structure, and Culture

• Site Professors– From focus on “teacher candidate” to focus on “student learning”

• Site Coordinators– Varied roles with student learning focus

• Teacher Candidates– Use of expertise

– Use as co-teachers

• Clinical Teachers– Learners and teachers

– Co-teaching, coaching, PBA training

Adaptations in Roles, Structure and Culture

• Course credit for PDS work

• Annual site professor evaluation

• University costs: $5000 per PDS on average

• Enhanced grant potential

• Performance-based assessments: Knowledge & performance

• Joint admissions: SOE, CLAS, schools

Best Practice in Teaching, Learning and Leadership

• Collaboration

• Coaching

• Co-teaching

• Action research

Impact and Outcomes• Outcomes for Teacher Candidates

– Scholar, Instructor, Student Advocate, Professional, Leader

• Retention– 88.9% were still in teaching & 91% still in education

related position

– “teaching is personally rewarding”

– “enjoy working with students”

• Preparation – 78% rated preparation as “good” or “excellent”

• Proficiency– Over 80% rated themselves as moderate or high on 13

of 15 INTASC teaching items

Group Sharing• What are you doing

now?

• What would you like to be doing?

• What questions do you have about (your component) related to your own partnerships?

• What’s one idea from your discussion you’d like to share with the whole group.

Best Practice in Teaching,

Learning, and Leadership

Desired Learning Outcomes

Adaptations in Roles,

Structure, andCulture

Organizational Innovation

Teacher Candidates• Liberal arts degrees

• Most are in schools 2 days/week for 3/4ths of the year & 4 days/week for the rest of the year

• Performance based assessments to meet the teacher education standards

Teacher Preparation• Teacher Candidates...

– bring positive energy into the classrooms.– stimulate cooperating teachers to perform their best– facilitate learning by reducing the student to teacher

ratio.– work alongside with cooperating teachers, moving

from an apprenticeship to a full co-teaching situation– demonstrate high quality skills and knowledge– reported feeling disenfranchised from planning and

decision making– reported the year-long relationship does not provide

the time for the development of trust with a colleague that precedes honest, and possibly, critical dialogue

Site Professors

• University faculty

• 1 day per week for school year

• Equivalent of 3 courses (out of 5)

• Member of the school’s leadership team

• Participates in IPTE Council (program governance body)

• Challenges: Becoming part of the school & focusing efforts on student learning

The Evolution of A Robust Partnership

If I walked into the school today, I could walk into classrooms that I never used to be able to walk into, because those teachers don’t mind having observers in the room. And we could, and do, have those conversations afterwards, about “Boy, I wondered why you handled it this way, and so-and-so often handles it the other way?” And they not only would be very interested in the conversation, participating in it, but they might change what they do as a result of that, or they might have a rationale for what they do as a result of that. But I don’t think those conversations were possible in these schools four years ago.

Site Coordinators

• Pivotal role in the partnership

• School faculty on special assignment

• Most full-time

• Participate in IPTE Council (program governance body)

• Challenges: Learning the job & focusing efforts on student learning

The Evolution of A Robust Partnership

It helps us in our professionalism. Makes you stop and think how you do things, why you do things. It has given us a link to the university that we didn’t have before, and consequently, we have benefited professionally. We learn about more current trends in education. We tend to get bogged down in the nuts and bolts of everyday school life, and not stay at a level where we are learning new things. The partnership helps us stay current. At the district level, the partnership has had an impact particularly on literacy.

PDS Principals

• Partner principal meetings

• Key spokesperson for the partnership in the school district

• Work with teacher candidates

• Problem solve as needed

• Challenge: Use of partnership resources in school improvement plans

Clinical Teachers

• Teachers who mentor teacher candidates

• Co-teaching

• Learning focused discourse & development

• Social justice dispositions

• Versed in technical, contextual & critical dialogue and practice

• Performance based assessments

• Challenge: Sharing the classroom & cultivating responsibility for student learning

Research and Inquiry

We are becoming more aware of action research. The class that the TCs have taken and a presentation they did on action research has helped us think about ways to work smarter, not harder. We wouldn’t have had any knowledge about action research at all without the partnership. It was worth it giving up my Saturday to attend the presentations (the Action Research Conference).

I don’t know if I want to spend time, really, as a teacher, in research.

This is an area of weakness for us for sure but we certainly reflect a lot and we moan a lot about the data we have.

Learning Focused Relationships• Mutual respect

• Working as partners

• Collaboration as key

• Co-teaching central to planning

• Co-teaching variations

• Challenges: Time for collaboration & co-teaching for student learning

Coaching: Key Ideas

• Develops shared language and common understandings through interaction

• Enhances teachers’ thinking and decision-making

• Represents a powerful strategy for implementing instructional improvement that impacts student learning

• Challenge: Building clinical teacher skill in coaching

Costs & Benefits: Schools & Districts• Time: SC, CT, Principal

• Immediate & long-term teaching resources

• Grant resources & opportunities

• Educator support: clinical teacher pay, tuition

• Ongoing, embedded professional development

• Other opportunities

• Challenge: Budget cuts

Costs & Benefits: University

• 3/5’s of full time faculty salary at each PDS

• University costs: $5000 per PDS on average

• Initial downturn in research productivity

• Enhanced grant potential

• Ongoing, embedded professional development

• Other opportunities

• Challenge: Budget cuts

Reflections on Robustness

Sustainability

Boundaries and Agendas

Roles

Issues of Expertise

Quality of teacher candidate experiences

Major Challenges• School performance

• School instability Principals w/ 3 years or less experience

• Number of PDSs needed for program

• New challenge: Financing site coordinators

Major Challenges

• Change & accountability in teacher education

• Change & accountability in schooling

• District recognition & support

• Relating PDS efforts to student achievement

The Community - Professional Collaboration Strategy: Re-educating human services professionals in community oriented practices while concurrently empowering community residents to advocate for themselves and solve their community problems.

The Community Strategy: Increasing the capacity among community residents to address their own needs and to advocate for

themselves within the social service system.

Varying Approaches to Partnership

The PROFESSIONAL Strategy: Upgrading job specific skills of human service professionals and/or introducing them to practices based on an asset paradigm.

• Establish a shared understanding of the purpose, function and potential outcomes of the two institutions.

• Improve dialogue and interaction between district and university faculty to create a systemic and infused partnership.

• Form and sustain leadership teams that represent the diversity of voices in a building.

• Deprivatize teaching.

Direction