Partnership Annual Report 2003-2004
Formal School Based Partnerships
St. Cloud Public Schools Independent School District 742
The SCSU College of Education, and the St. Cloud Public Schools have a long history of working together in programs involving the preparation of teachers, delivering professional development opportunities for faculty, and in working together collecting data regarding student progress. This close working relationship has evolved into a formal partnership that now supports many joint initiatives. These include traditional activities such as the placement of student teachers and practica students in St. Cloud schools. However, within past five years, the partnership has also expanded into several areas of joint commitment that have resulted in grant proposals being submitted and funded projects being undertaken. During the 2003/2004 academic year there were several school/college of education partnership initiatives underway. These projects had the support and involvement of various persons from the Dean’s office. The projects have also allowed for the participation of numerous faculty from both the school district and from the college of education faculty as well. See previous section of this report for information regarding the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant
In addition the College of Education, the College of Science and Engineering, and the St. Cloud public schools are tripartite members of the National Network for Educational Renewal. During the past year there has been joint grant activity by this tripartite partnership.
The Developing Networks of Responsibility to Educate America’s Youth Grant was a planning grant awarded by the Institute for Educational Inquiry (IEI) in Seattle, Washington. The IEI is the research and dissemination arm of the National Network of Educational Renewal (NNER). The Developing Networks of Responsibility to Educate America’s Youth planning grants were awarded to eight NNER school/university partnership sites through a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant to IEI.
The purpose of the three year initiative is to develop and sustain school-university-community partnerships to improve the schooling of children and youth in at-risk situations. Funding was provided to the tripartite partnership to:
- Implement leadership programs where participants share knowledge, develop collaborative leadership skills, and create an action plan that addresses local education needs
- Implement and evaluate the approved action plan;
- Disseminate learnings and resulting models of collaboration to local, regional, and national audiences
Each of the eight NNER partnership sites who received the planning grants utilized a scenario based planning process with assistance from a local facilitator and a facilitator from the IEI. A team of 18 participants (6 university, 6 PreK-12, and 6 community) attended 10 days of planning and collaboration, one day in St. Cloud and three three-day sessions at Craguns Resort in Brainerd, Minnesota
As a result of the ten days of planning, a proposal with three action plans was submitted by the St. Cloud partnership to the IEI for an implementation grant. The three action plans focused
- Engaging the Community in on-going Collaboration
- Developing Cultural Competence in our Community
- Addressing the Needs of the English Language Learner Community
In July of 2004, the St. Cloud Developing Networks of Responsibility to Educate America’s Youth Team was notified that their implementation grant proposal was accepted, and they will be funded for a second year. The original 18 person team will expand their membership in 2004-05 as they move forward with the implementation of the three action plans.
College of Education personnel who were part of the Developing Networks of Responsibility for America Youth Initiative were
- Gayla Holmgren
- LeeAnn Jorgensen
- Joane McKay
- Ming Chi Own
- Ramon Serrano
- Patricia Waletzko
North Branch Public Schools Independent School District and Anoka Ramsey Community College: Cambridge Campus
Nearly 10 years ago, the College of Education began placing student teachers in the North Branch schools. The faculty involved in this effort developed close relationships build on respect and shared interests. Nearly 6 years ago, the district was projecting a shortage of well qualified teachers at a time they were facing a large number of potential retirements. North Branch schools are approximately 70 miles from SCSU. The district requested that SCSU work with them to develop a project that would provide a high quality teacher preparation program for local area personnel. The Teacher Preparation Partnership was formed in 1998. It included the College of Education at SCSU, Anoka Ramsey Community College and the North Branch Schools. Since that time, the Teacher Preparation Partnership has jointly supported a Bachelor’s degree program for elementary teachers which was offered entirely on the North Branch public school campus. 22 teachers graduated from that program in the spring of 2003 having completed 4 years of study that included extensive practica in public schools during all 4 years of the program.
Since 1998, the Teacher Preparation Partnership has received two U.S. Department of Education grants as part of the Teacher Quality Initiative. In addition this partnership has received grant funds from the Humphrey Institute and from the SCSU RITE grant for the integration of technology into this rural teacher preparation model
2003/2004 efforts: In the summer of 2002 a graduate cohort program leading to special education licensure was offered at the North Branch site. (33 teachers have completed this licensure program, by the spring of 2003) In the spring of 2003, a master’s degree cohort program in curriculum and instruction (15 students) was started at North Branch under the guidance of faculty from the Teacher Development Department. Preliminary plans have been made to establish another undergraduate cohort that would lead to both elementary and special education licensure beginning in 2005. Additionally, North Branch has contacted SCSU to be a co-sponsor of a professional development training activity sponsored by the Minnesota Federation of Teachers. Dr. Bev Kochmann, Teacher Development and Dr. Pamm Minden serve as College of Education representatives on the North Branch Steering Committee.
