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Design-Revise-Repeat: The Continuing Development of a University-Community Partnership

Sat, April 9, 4:05 to 5:35pm, Convention Center, Floor: Level One, Room 102 B

Abstract

Schools and after-school programs need to work together to create lasting change that addresses persistent problems of poverty, racism, access, and the deficit perspectives that impede the learning of students from historically marginalized communities (Vásquez, 2003). For the past 5 years, Sanchez Elementary School (hereafter Sanchez) and CU-Boulder’s School of Education have been engaged in a design research partnership focused on building and studying solutions aimed at (1) improving the academic learning and life opportunities of children living in poverty who are also racial and linguistic minorities, and (2) preparing a majority middle-class, white population of pre-service teachers, with limited experience working with historically marginalized communities, to teach these students effectively. Our partnership is centered around the design of an after-school club - El Pueblo Mágico (hereafter EPM) - that is physically located at Sanchez as part of the school’s extensive after-school learning programs.

The central achievements of our design research partnership speak to the mutual benefits of our relationship. These include: the institutionalization of our university-community partnership as evidenced in the required practicum placement at EPM as part of CU-Boulder’s teacher education program coursework; research findings on the expansion of the knowledge-base for preparing equity-oriented teachers; the provision of expanded academic learning opportunities for elementary students; and, the acquisition of funding to create innovative programming. Although both organizations have learned from one another and from this research, team members from CU-Boulder and Sanchez have realized that if we align EPM more closely with the day-school systems of learning we can have an even greater positive impact on the students of Sanchez.

Since the program’s inception, the CU-Boulder team has taken the lead in designing the program for the Sanchez community with only limited input and suggestions from the Sanchez administration and staff. It is our conjecture that EPM will provide a more consequential learning opportunity for elementary students and future teachers if we develop more integrated and responsive collaborations among the CU-Boulder team and Sanchez staff, establishing mutual responsibility for the design, implementation, and supervision of EPM. As a design-based research partnership, we are focused on the iterative process of building solutions to problems and studying their impact on our program, its practices, and its outcomes. Some problems that have arisen and that we anticipate continuing to emerge are: ideological differences between the university and elementary school staff, scheduling and carrying out of meeting and collaboration times, and roles and division of labor among team members.

We will present our conjectures, design enactments, and emerging outcomes related to a set of small-scale interventions created to deepen our partnership so that (1) EPM is more integrated with the academic and social goals of Sanchez, and (2) the Sanchez and CU-Boulder team members share greater responsibility for running an effective after-school club. We will also share the strategies we have developed for partners to learn more about each others’ academic and social goals, pedagogical strategies, and their impact on the learning and life opportunities for the students of EPM.

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