Reflections on Key Elements of a Successful Learning Higher Education and Elementary Partnership

• In Event: Partnerships for School Improvement: A Synthesis of Research and Opportunities for Future Research

Abstract

Partnerships between higher education and public schools provide valuable learning experiences and opportunities that support innovation and organizational change (Carlisle, 2011; Cormas and Barufaldi, 2011; Clinton, 2000). One such partnership, a collaboration between an institution of higher education and an elementary school evolved, not as a mandate by an outside agency, but as a part of the continuous improvement cycle and the jointly accepted desire to improve school culture and learning outcomes of K-5 students.
The authors share their experiences with other academics, educators, and schools seeking to develop sustainable partnership through their journey through reflection. The chapter is designed to share art of reflective practice to explore the internal and external partnership components and how they evolved throughout their partnership development. The reflections are offered as a part of their learning process, shared knowledge and insight gained, and applied lessons learned for improvement in professional practices.
The Higher Education and Elementary Partnership (HEEP) was formed to implement research-based practices to advance a collaborative, school-based, and problem-focused approach to build capability and promote continuous improvement. The initiation and purpose of the HEEP story will be discussed as well as the facilitating factors and challenges the partnership faced across the year-long commitment to implementing change at a local elementary school. Each partner will present viewpoints on the development of a shared working theory, programmatic planning, and implementation of the school improvement plan. Furthermore, the authors will explicate varying perspectives from three viewpoints of the local school principal, university partner, and teacher leader within the elementary school. Lastly, key accomplishments, program outcomes, and future considerations based on HEEP will be highlighted.
The HEEP partnership was formed and we sought to build teacher leadership capacity and address problems of practice, collaboration, school culture, and student learning outcomes. The theory of action guiding HEEP was that efforts within the partnership would be improved by specifically addressing the individual challenges facing the partnership elementary school. Together, we outlined a year-long commitment to our collaborative work.
HEEP adopted the continuous improvement principles that guided how they worked together in partnership, by defining and measuring the problems within the school culture. Prior research on university and districts partnerships was used as a guide for implementing effective authentic partnership practices such as shared leadership, jointly developing our goals, objectives, and learning strategies (Orr, 2011; Orr & Barber, 2006; Orr, King & La Pointe, 2010; Thompson & Orr, 20 10).
HEEP embarked on this initiative to strengthen and deepen school partnerships and to use their collective knowledge, skills, and resources to address the significant issues related to improving a school’s culture, collaboration, instructional practices, and learning environment. In order to accomplish this task, HEEP began with identifying the root causes for a lagging school culture and problems of practice. The authors will elaborate on the implemented a model of inquiry used to gain insight and determine the root causes of the school culture issues and instructional practices (Bryk, Gomez & Grunow, & LeMahieu, 2015).

Authors

• Aneta Hogan Walker, University of West Florida

• Tonya Bess Conner, Troy University - Dothan