Search Results (13)

This article examines the integration of digital simulations as a tool for strengthening leadership development across the four phases of the principal pipeline—recruitment, preparation, induction, and in-service professional development. Set in the context of a partnership between a preparation program and district-based leadership development, the study investigated to what extent simulations could bridge gaps along the pipeline to create a more coherent and continuous approach to principal development. The findings suggest that sims help prospective leaders develop a more nuanced understanding of school leadership, enhance decision-making skills for candidates in preparation programs, and provide targeted support for new and experienced administrators. Full article

Teachers are critical to the success of students, and when school districts struggle to fill vacant positions with highly qualified teachers, student success suffers. To mitigate the problems that persist with ongoing teacher shortages, we are at a critical juncture that calls for strategies that support districts in overcoming these shortfalls through reflective practice and inquiry in sustaining and scaling collaborative efforts through school and university partnerships. This paper discusses lessons learned during the first year of a ‘Grow-Your-Own’ collaborative partnership between a school district and a university educator preparation program. Reflections and lessons learned for continuous improvement are shared, related to student recruitment, enrollment, and retention. Full article

The role of the school principal has garnered international significance. When it comes to student learning outcomes, the effectiveness of the principal has been recognized as being more important than the effectiveness of a single teacher. Studies also highlight the role school leadership plays in fostering equity and social justice practices in schools and communities. Yet only a small body of research exists on how to prepare leaders to lead for equity. In this paper, we will describe, analyze, and reflect on the components of one school leadership preparation program’s (SLLP’s) candidate assessment system (CAS), which guided the selection of equity-centered leadership candidates for a cohort program in a university–district partnership. We applied a qualitative content analysis to the documents we utilized to select aspiring equity-centered leaders through the program’s redesigned CAS. Our findings revealed that the content and process of the program’s CAS was aligned with many tenets of equity-centered leadership, specifically in CAS documents and in the involvement of a broad group of constituencies and partners during the design and implementation of CAS. We also uncovered a new finding outside of our framework: an emphasis on instructional leadership in our CAS documents as a key component of leading for equity. This study is likely to inform other SLPPs intending to select leadership candidates who will have the capacity to lead for equity. Full article

This paper discusses the development of district–university partnerships at the onset of a multi-year grant-funded initiative focused on leadership for equity. Using three illustrative partnership cases, we investigated district–university collaboration through the lens of mutualism, or the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship. Our data analysis revealed the following dynamics as important for the development of mutualism: shared commitment, shared ownership, new collaborative structures, reciprocal benefits, and boundary spanners. We approached partnerships as learning processes, and used a typology of interorganizational learning to understand better how these dynamics sustained the partnerships. Our study contributes to the field’s knowledge of the development of formal partnerships in general as well as of partnerships explicitly focused on equity specifically. Full article

The capacity of schools to address behavioral health concerns presents an emerging challenge, exacerbated by major shortages in the workforce. Schools across the U.S. are struggling to hire licensed behavioral health professionals, with additional barriers encountered when seeking to hire practitioners with experience in educational settings. In 2023, a school district in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, partnered with The Ohio State University to launch a “grow your own” policy pilot. The priorities focused on addressing workforce shortages and leveraging the experiences of current teachers/staff to support growing needs related to student mental health and well-being. More specifically, the district utilized COVID-19 relief funds to recruit, train, and transition 25 teachers/staff into school mental health positions by underwriting the costs of each professional’s Master of Social Work (MSW) degree. Here, we (a) describe the district–university partnership and the processes guiding the implementation of the “grow your own” model, (b) distill preliminary findings about district needs regarding behavioral health, and (c) explore facilitators, barriers, and outcomes associated with learning among participants in the program. The findings from a district-wide staff survey indicated a high level of need for individual counseling, crisis intervention, and small group interventions. Additionally, qualitative interviews revealed that learning among the program’s participants was facilitated by effective classroom strategies and specific learning experiences integral to the program’s design. These facilitators supported key learning outcomes, including general social work knowledge, self-awareness, and therapeutic skills that are foundational for engaging with students, parents/families, teachers/staff, and the broader school community. This innovative policy pilot and training model demonstrate how universities and local educational agencies can partner to address workforce development challenges at the intersection of behavioral health and education. Full article

Partnerships among professionals within collegiate teacher preparation programs and school districts are needed to address current teacher shortages, especially critical in urban, high-needs schools. This research study showcases a collaborative model of teacher recruitment, preparation, and support that envisions and co-constructs reconceptualized roles, opportunities, and responsibilities for university faculties, supervising teachers, and teacher candidates. The concept is supported through a continuum of professional learning and reflection. The enhanced partnership model (EPM) for internship requires a partnership between faculties in teacher preparation programs and school districts to develop, engage, and evaluate an EPM for urban-school teacher preparation in multiple urban school sites in the southeastern United States. The goals of this innovative EPM revolve around recruiting diverse teacher candidates, collaboratively preparing them to focus on rigorous academic coursework as well as practical, classroom-based experiences, and retaining the new teachers. Employment data were accessed via administrative sources. A chi-square test of association was used to examine the relationship between participation in the EPM and employment (n = 158). The findings highlight that pre-service teachers participating in the EPM are 4.5 times as likely to be employed in a high-needs school, and 75% of those employed are still employed three years later. The implications of these results are shared. Full article

This instrumental case study describes the steps taken to establish and implement a university–school partnership to improve rural science teachers’ content knowledge and teaching practices and students’ achievement in elementary science and high school biology courses. Our research questions explored the impact of professional development and place-based learning on student outcomes, with the study’s methodology involving needs assessments, teacher training, and continuous support through modeling and coaching. The findings include gains in achievement and substantial gains in science education. The findings have implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of university–school partnerships designed to build teachers’ capacity to deliver high-quality science education and improve student success in rural school districts. Full article

K-12 teacher professional development in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) is often utilized to enhance teachers’ abilities to use STEAM pedagogical methods in the classroom. One such program is GoSTEAM, a five-year initiative centered on K-12 teacher professional development in STEAM. Teachers participating in GoSTEAM collaborate on the implementation of STEAM lessons and activities with an Innovator-in-Residence, who is an individual with experience in a STEAM field, often from a local community organization or university. This study analyzes focus group findings from teachers and school administrators to assess how the partnership with the Innovator-in-Residence impacts teachers’ professional development in STEAM. The findings suggest teachers and administrators perceived there to be several impacts on teachers’ professional development as a result of the partnership, such as the development of STEAM skills and making connections between STEAM, district standards, and real-world concepts. As such, the results of this study indicate that a teacher’s professional development in STEAM can be impacted by an ongoing partnership and collaboration with community partners and those experienced in STEAM fields. Full article

University-district partnerships are promising models for leadership preparation programs, however many partnerships fall short of their potential. In this two-year qualitative, action research study, we examine how a university-district partnership led to the simultaneous renewal of the district and university as it sought to develop transformational school leaders. Analysis of semi-structured interviews with program participants, university staff, and district administrators indicated the impactful role of cohorts, co-teaching, and inquiry-based instruction in the continual improvement of all stakeholders. We show how each of these program components informed and transformed the university and district. We also identified partnership conditions that supported their effectiveness. Our findings inform universities and districts designing partnerships for leadership preparation and provide existing partnerships that incorporate cohorting, co-teaching, and inquiry-based instruction a better understanding of their potential impact. Full article

The importance of partnerships is critical in educational arenas, but information on how partnerships form with the involvement of corporations, districts, and universities working in harmony is limited in the current literature. The teacher preparation program described in this paper is a “built-to-last” partnership model with over 650 teachers prepared to be teacher-leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The authors provide a history of the program’s development, the sustainability of the program over time, the content of the various components of the partnership, and the evolution of the program, including its current status. Full article

Community stakeholders can be valuable allies to city officials engaged in downtown regeneration and community planning. This project highlights the force of engaging such allies in planning initiatives. It focuses on a long-neglected community that was once a thriving African American cultural and commercial hub. Organized as a city-university collaborative, the project brought together a cadre of community stakeholders: a planning studio professor and graduate students; a professional planner; architects; preservationists; and area residents, business owners and community leaders. Stakeholders held several meetings to evaluate the overall needs of the area, discuss options that would allow the concurrency of neighborhood revitalization, historic preservation and commercial economic interests while adhering to existing design guidelines. The group’s work culminated in a proposed land use plan that is sensitive to the needs of families, businesses and the city’s revitalization efforts. The plan calls for creating built spaces that complement the natural environment and encourages integrating green initiatives with regenerative efforts. It proposes creating active parks; cultural, arts and entertainment districts; and zoning that allows for single and multifamily housing. It transforms the district into one that is mixed-use, economically viable, family-oriented and preserves the area’s authentically historic and cultural assets. Full article

The Sustainable Development Goals will challenge low- and middle-income settings to look at new approaches for rural sanitation. In 2013, Mzuzu University, in partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Malawi, started a low-cost latrine program in rural areas using the corbelled latrine design supported by locally owned sustainable businesses. The objective of this work was to trace customers (early household adopters) and non-customers through field observations and interviews in 15 districts of Malawi. The research team spent 193 personnel work days in data collection and found 21 households as adopters in 7 districts. Most respondents had a preference with regard to the design of the sanitation facility they would like to use. Although sharing of sanitation facilities was common, the corbelled latrine is promoted as a single household pit latrine design. Unfortunately, 8% (23/304) of non-adopters responded they practiced open defecation. Households were satisfied with the corbelled latrine design, and no latrine was found to have collapsed during field visits. To promote the corbelled latrine in Malawi, the following are recommended: (1) education of frontline government extension workers towards non-subsidized household latrines; (2) identification of rural low-income households as the best target for potential adopters; and (3) linkage of low-cost sanitation technologies to community mobilization campaigns led by the government, such as Community Led Total Sanitation. Full article

Socially just, intergenerational urban spaces should not only accommodate children and adolescents, but engage them as participants in the planning and design of welcoming spaces. With this goal, city agencies in Boulder, Colorado, the Boulder Valley School District, the Children, Youth and Environments Center at the University of Colorado, and a number of community organizations have been working in partnership to integrate young people’s ideas and concerns into the redesign of parks and civic areas and the identification of issues for city planning. Underlying their work is a commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children’s rights to active citizenship from a young age. This paper describes approaches used to engage with young people and methods of participation, and reflects on lessons learned about how to most effectively involve youth from underrepresented populations and embed diverse youth voices into the culture of city planning. Full article