The Herb Innovation Center

Brady Partnership Schools Program

The Brady Partnership Schools program is a specialty track within the Early Childhood Education Licensure program in the Department of Teacher Education.

The goal is to create a supportive and innovative training pathway for students who want to teach in urban schools, most specifically in Toledo Public Schools. To do this we incorporate multiple learning opportunities for pre-service teachers to gain high level competencies to become successful and effective urban educators. Our goals in this proposed program are three-fold:

1) Best prepare PreK to 3rd teachers for urban schools.

2) To partner with cooperating teachers who are highly effective, culturally responsive urban educators in three TPS schools.

3) To partner with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Toledo to support and engage children and their families in the early years of their education.

 

Introduction

Recent research points to the incredible impact that early education has on later academic achievement of young children (Duncan, et al., 2007; Heckman, 2011). Children who develop basic skills in preschool and early childhood programs are better prepared to handle challenging situations throughout their education, their learning is enhanced, their test scores improve, and ultimately their graduation rates increase. Additional studies suggest that providing low-income students with high-quality and experienced teachers can close the achievement gap between poorer schools and more affluent schools (Boyd et al. 2008; Clotfelter, Ladd & Vigdor 2007). In addition, teachers who are trained to utilize and implement culturally responsive practices can be positively impactful on children’s long-term outcomes and self-perceptions (Ladson-Billings, 1990). Therefore, it is imperative to provide a richer set of practical experiences for pre-service teacher candidates so they have an opportunity to blend theory with practice throughout their preparation. This study examines the impacts of an urban-focused early childhood teacher preparation program that utilizes urban practicum placements, pre-service teacher community service and cooperating teacher professional development and family/community learning supports on children’s learning experiences and the likelihood of pre-service teachers to remain in teaching in urban settings following this training experience.

 

Objective

The objectives of this study are to better understand what mechanisms and practices help to prepare highly qualified urban early childhood educators who will support the learning of diverse students in high needs communities. The goal is to develop a preparation program that will allow pre-service teachers to develop key skills and dispositions to make them successful educators and to remain in the field and teaching in schools where there is a great deal of need for highly qualified teachers. Specifically, this study will follow six cohorts of pre-service teacher educators as they move through our specialized urban track within our existing program. We will be studying their experiences and work with cooperating teachers, children and families to better understand what skills and dispositions, and training opportunities build the needed skills to keep them successful and in urban settings.

Data Collection

• The study will take place over 10 years with a new cohort of students entering the program each semester. The teacher education program lasts 2 years (4 semesters), and four new students will join each semester. The study is largely qualitative. We will be following, observing, interviewing and surveying our pre-service teachers on their learning experiences in our coursework, during their practicum placements in urban schools, during required monthly meetings for the urban track pre-service teachers, and in observation of their participation with their cooperating teachers in professional development experiences.
• Four semesters of participation.
• Audio-recording and transcription of monthly meetings with other urban track pre-service teachers education students and faculty/graduate assistants. These meetings will include a shared reading, reflection on teaching experiences and problem-solving. Exit survey at end of Cohort 4 (student teaching).
• Observation and video of pre-service teacher education students' implementation of lessons in practicum classrooms - 1x per month.
• Critique and evaluation of UT pre-service teachers by cooperating teachers and program supervisors.
• Use of classroom quality measure (ECER-S and SACER-S) to record existing practices in practicum sites.
• 1, 3 and 5 year post graduate follow up surveys.
• Teacher competency rating scale of children within the classroom.
• Interviews and focus groups.
• Family level data regarding school experiences.

Data Analyses

Data analyses and study design will be ongoing as we gathering, analyze and learn from our practices. Our goal is for this study to be both reformative in terms of research and to improve our teacher education program to prepare highly skilled educators to meet the diverse needs of young children and their families in the early years of their education.

 

 

Ruslan Slutsky