Teacher Education Partnerships Help Low-Performing Schools

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CONTACT:
Alyssa Mangino,
amangino@aacte.org
or 202.478.4596

AACTE to Profile Models on Capitol Hill

Washington D.C. (June 16, 2008) The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) will host a congressional briefing, entitled “Partnerships That Work: Turning Around Low-Performing Schools,” on Thursday, June 19, 2008, from 8:30AM to 10:00AM in 902 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.  This briefing will offer examples from around the country of partnerships between colleges of education and K-12 school districts that have had a major impact on student learning.

The briefing will feature five partnerships that exemplify effective practices in turning around low-performing schools.

• Linda Darling-Hammond, professor, and Nicky Ramos-Beban, former school principal and current doctoral student at Stanford University’s School of Education, will speak about a partnership between the university and several local schools.
• Christopher Steinhauser, superintendent of the award-winning Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), will discuss the impact of the Urban Teaching Academy at the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach on the preparation of LBUSD teachers.   
• Rick Hamilton, a career-changer recently prepared as a math teacher through Project SELECT— a partnership between the College of Education at Black Hills State University (SD) and Rapid City Schools— will explain how the partnership helped him learn to teach Native American students. 
• Kendrick Johnson, a recent MAT graduate and new teacher, will discuss the impact of the partnership between the National College of Education at National-Louis University (IL) and Chicago’s Academy for Urban School Leadership on his ability to teach inner-city students. 
• Roger León, former principal, now assistant superintendent of Newark Public Schools, will describe how a partnership between Montclair State University’s College of Education (NJ) and several Newark schools meets educational needs in some of the nation’s most challenging classrooms.

AACTE President and CEO Sharon P. Robinson will serve as the briefing’s moderator.

“These partnerships illustrate the commitment of AACTE member institutions to the needs of the most vulnerable students in their communities,” Robinson said.  “AACTE programs that prepare professional educators are working with others to assure that low-performing schools become effective organizations that provide these students with the knowledge and skills necessary for active and productive citizenship.” 

At the briefing, AACTE will release a publication, “Partnerships That Work: Turning Around Low-Performing Schools,” which profiles additional partnerships from around the country and provides evidence of their success.  The publication also will be available for download from http://www.aacte.org/.

The briefing is part of AACTE’s Day on the Hill, which aims to facilitate a strong connection between Association members and their representatives in Congress and to enhance advocacy efforts on behalf of educator preparation programs that further the advancement of student progress and achievement.

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For more information on how to register for this event or for an embargoed copy of the publication, “Partnerships That Work: Turning Around Low-Performing Schools,” please contact Alyssa Mangino, AACTE communications manager, at amangino@aacte.org or 202.478.4596.