Teacher Empowerment and Public Engagement at Ripon College

• In Event: A Discourse of Democracy: The Role of Researchers, Faculty, and Community Organizations in Education Reform

Abstract

Ripon College is a small liberal arts college located in southeastern Wisconsin. For over 10 years, Ripon’s Educational Studies program has been steeped in the liberal arts tradition, teaching the sociological, psychological, historical, and philosophical foundations of education alongside more expected pedagogical work in lesson planning, classroom management and subject area methodology. In our estimation, Educational Studies is a prime example of the liberal arts in practice: thinking across and through the disciplines not only to teach, but to lead a life of public engagement and civic discourse.
Current educational policy, as applicable to teacher preparation, lacks the inclusion of social foundations perspectives, and, in some instances, even denigrates their presence in core curriculum for future teachers (Swain, 2013). At the same time, it is this very coursework that allows educators to enter the discussions of policy and reform that directly impact their work and the lives of their students (Carter, 2008, Giroux, 2005). Reform efforts, including Teach for America and other alternative certification programs, ‘streamline’ teacher preparation, omitting foundations courses as irrelevant to teaching practice. Pearson’s Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) includes contextual factors pertaining to the lives of K-12 students only insomuch as it impacts the data collected by the teacher candidate. It also provides little opportunity to discuss relevant policy initiatives that impact the teacher candidate’s ability to work with students and their families. The systemic message is clear: the historic, sociological and philosophical foundations of education have no viable tie-in to teaching practice.
In light of these occurrences that seek to divorce the social foundations of education from the lives of teachers and students, and as a response to recent legislative changes in the State of Wisconsin that have drastically impacted the practice of education in our state, the Ripon College Educational Studies Department has continued to develop our teacher preparation program to make plain the relationship between the social foundations of education and the daily endeavors of K-12 educators. In addition, we assist our students in developing their voices as capable classroom teachers who are also able to analyze, and if necessary, speak publicly about reform efforts that affect both their future practice and the lives of the students in their classrooms. Our goal is to help prepare our students—future educators—to act within the systems that define the conditions under which they work and live.
To do this, our department has fortified our existing curriculum with classroom simulations in the creation of school policy, opportunities to discuss state and national level policy both internally and with local educational stakeholders, and create and discuss policy initiatives with state legislators both on our campus and at the state capitol. Though these program inclusions are relatively new, recent efforts have resulted in students effecting minor changes to teacher testing requirements approved at the most recent legislative session and the drafting of a bipartisan bill that will be presented in the upcoming year.

Author

• Suzanne M. Katz, Center for Inspired Teaching