Conceptualizing “Deep University-School Partnerships”: Six Critical Factors of Implementation (and) for Research

• In Event: University-School Partnerships: Building on What We Know in the Service of Students and Families

Abstract

Presenters for this commentary include researchers and university administrators in a private northeastern university who are initiating, along with school administrators and parents, a university-school partnership, with the goal of creating an assisted school. Their presentation will highlight the process by which the partnership is occurring with district officials, teachers and other vested individuals, and collectives of community support. It will also examine the factors that help to anchor the effort; and the possibilities for research and practice both as part of the process and in relationship to pathways of change.

The context that will form the basis for the commentary is a northeastern city which has launched a formal partnership with a group of K-12 public schools serving children and families in an area of the city where there is pronounced poverty, general underachievement, and few institutional resources. The institution is pledging long-term commitments to meeting the academic and social needs of students, promoting children’s health and wellbeing, and furthering the teachers’ professional development.

The nature of university-school partnerships varies considerably in concept and practice from one higher education institution to the next. However, this commentary will focus on what we refer to as “deep” partnerships when postsecondary institutions are actively engaged to the point that they share accountability for student outcomes in the K-12 settings. The presenters will argue that beyond being a supporting partner, the college or university holds itself publicly responsible for the success of the students in the school.

Combining insights from the research literature with their own investigations of university-school partnerships across the U.S., and experience with school partnership in Philadelphia and New York, the presenters will focus on the efficacy of six principles that have emerged from their scholarly and service work and that appear to ground both implementation of deep partnership and discussions among school districts, universities, and community members. The principles include: (1) affiliation-based on mutual self interest; (2) institutional commitments codified in formal agreements between partners; (3) broad involvement of higher education faculty, staff and students; (4) coherence of effort around academic achievement: (5) shared accountability for student outcomes; and (6) strong collaboration. Implications for district, school, and university collaboration, school organization, community investment, and curricular possibilities will be discussed. In contributing to the formulation and success of deep partnerships, the principles are seen as helping to form and sustain successful, deep university-school partnerships, forming a basis for research, and supporting research and innovative practice in school.

Authors

• Nancy W. Streim, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Emily Zemke, Teachers College, Columbia University