Developing Community-Based Partnerships for Contextualized Teacher Preparation

• In Event: STEP-UP (Summer Teacher Education Partnership for Urban Preparation): An Innovative Program of Urban Teacher Preparation Through Cultural and Community Immersion

Abstract

UNITE was founded in 2006 as a student organization on the campus of BLIND REVIEW. The goal of this new student organization was to engage students beyond the curriculum to become highly qualified urban educators. With growing membership, on- and off-campus experiences, and successful educational programming, UNITE has been a leader in pre-service urban teacher preparation on the campus of BLIND REVIEW.

Today, UNITE is a 501c3 organization serving pre- and in-service educators through various programming including chapters on university campuses, student teaching immersion programs, workshops extending beyond traditional teacher preparation, and assistance with job placement. UNITE is focused on preparing teachers at all levels with knowledge, skills and experience to be a confident urban educator. We aim to achieve excellence in education by creating highly qualified teachers for our nation’s most disadvantaged youth. UNITE is a network of teachers, students, administrators, and policy makers dedicated to producing the best urban educators for our nations cities.

Through a blend of in-community experiences, traditional instruction, professional development seminars, and self-exploratory reflections, UNITE teachers enter the teaching profession with a strong foundation of knowledge and urban experiences.

As a Chicago-based entity, our teachers and staff work with the youth of Chicago Public Schools on a daily basis. Many of our youngest teachers are appreciative of the enhanced urban training they underwent during their traditional teacher preparation program. Partnerships such as the one between UNITE and the BLIND REVIEW is one such example of exemplary teacher preparation for urban youth and the development of teachers as change agents.

Our presentation will highlight the importance of effective immersion urban teacher preparation as a means of creating teachers as agents of change. Our young teachers are learning through community immersion to combat the 41.1% drop-out rate among CPS youth. The STEP-UP program provides a rare opportunity for pre-service teachers to live in the shoes of the residents, youth, and parents of the children they will be educating in the near future. Through this immersion, STEP-UP Fellows leave with a paradigm shift in regards to their views as educators and attitudes towards multiculturalism and its effect on student achievement.

UNITE continues to push the envelope on traditional teacher preparation programs to incorporate authentic community engagement as a mode to increase student achievement, teacher retention, and lower student/teacher mobility rates. Our presentation ties theory to practice for teacher educators and presents an alternative method of effective urban teacher preparation.

Author

• Dakota Pawlicki, Illinois State University