University of Minnesota takes on state’s school achievement gap: Goals include more teachers of color, more ‘partnering’
|
Last week, we spoke with the leadership of the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) initiative to reduce Minnesota’s achievement gap. However, we cannot discuss students and their families without focusing on schoolteachers.Left: Jean Quam (Photo courtesy of U of M)According to CEHD’s Dean Jean Quam, there are currently 31 percent students of color in the U of M teacher preparation programs. She is hopeful that a new partnership with Teach for America (TFA), which is currently being discussed, will change that number.“They have 38 percent students of color in their teacher corps. We want to work with them to increase that number and improve their teacher preparation program,” she said. That plan includes lengthening and strengthening (TFA’s) five-week intensive training model.Misty Sato, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, and her team are creating incubators for this work in partnership with the Bush Foundation through the TERI (Teacher Education Redesign Initiative) program. The main priority is to diversify teacher-candidate pools.Left: Kim Nelson (Photo courtesy of General Mills)“The kind of program that we are running is working well for a particular population. Continue Reading