Partnership between University of Minnesota and Teach For America set in motion, program still on probation from granting teaching licenses

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At Cityview Elementary School in Minneapolis, University of Minnesota students with less than a month of instruction are assisting teachers as they begin their time in a new alternative teaching licensure program.The program, a result of the partnership between the University’s College of Education and Human Development and Teach for America, is the first of its kind in the state.Though the University graduate students will continue their teaching work this summer, the program is still on probation until the Minnesota Board of Teaching confirms it meets all standards for a teaching licensure program.The University may recommend those who finish the program for a regular full-time teaching license after they complete a residency and two years of coursework and meet University and state standards.Thirty-eight CEHD graduate students, who were also accepted as TFA corps members, began work earlier this month when the program was given a variance by the state teaching board to start work before it was approved.But for now, the students will spend some of their summer in Minneapolis’ Northside Achievement Zone schools, assistant teaching while still earning credits at the University.The need for a different approach to teaching licensure comes from students who want to pursue a teaching license but aren’t able take the University’s traditional yearlong route, CEHD Associate Dean Deborah Dillon said.“I would recommend the comprehensive program because I think that affords you more scaffolding and a little bit less stress,” she said. “That said, I will say we’re making our alternative pathway program very strong.”Jade Beauclair spends her nearly 10-hour days in the program rotating between assistant teaching, taking classes of her own and talking with her teaching mentors.Because the program is focused on experience, Beauclair said, she feels she’ll be prepared to teach after the expedited residency.“The [classwork] is definitely important, and I’m getting that every day,” she said, “but the best way to learn is just to do.”Beauclair and fellow corps members have a good chance in Minnesota’s current job market because urban schools in the Twin Cities have a high turnover rate, she said.TFA’s executive director in the Twin Cities, Crystal Brakke, said she’s confident that the program will be approved after the board has a chance to observe it.The program falls under 2011 legislation that allows for a different pathway to teaching licensure, Brakke said.But skepticism about the nonprofit organization has lingered in the Twin Cities for years. Some don’t see an intensive training program followed by a two-year temporary teaching job as the best approach to licensure.When the University announced it was considering a TFA partnership, CEHD graduate students formed a petition opposing the idea.The petition — which had more than 200 signatures last June and now has about 300 — states that there was a “lack of support” for the partnership from some faculty members.But Dillon said there hasn’t been any backlash about the new program since it started and people are beginning to embrace the idea.“It’s not an attempt to shortcut the preparation of teachers,” she said. “It’s an attempt to find a different path into preparing them [while] preparing them with the same kind of rigorous curriculum and expectations.”The University plans to partner with Minneapolis Public Schools to create a similar program, Dillon said, using the same structure.The program will allow MPS’ teaching assistants and other staff without a teaching license a chance to earn one while still working, she said.Related articles:What’s the real Teach for America? TFA Truth Tour tells surprising stories, by Christina Cerruti (TC Daily Planet, April 2014)Who’s teaching in Minnesota?TFA training left teacher unprepared for troubled school’s behavior issues, by Sheila Regan, (TC Daily Planet, December 2013)University of Minnesota moving along with Teach For America deal, while grad students say their objections aren’t being considered (Minnesota Daily, 2013)Hamline and Teach for America as partners: A mixed review (TC Daily Planet, 2013)New Teach For America-University of Minnesota partnership coming? Continue Reading

Rules for school tools, privacy in danger

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The surprise announcement by the District administrators to have every St Paul student be given an Ipad (mini-laptop) took many people (even the school board) and public by surprise. The coverage by the two daily newspapers recently has received front page attention. The St Paul School District decided to completely shift gears from what they told voters last year when we voted for a school tax referendum. As soon as I read the articles the questions started to flow. Would there be a parent anywhere who would support the school district’s actions to abrogate their families and children’s privacy rights? Does the Ipad initiative violate students/family privacy and liberty rights? Does the School district have the right to install devices in the Ipads that allow monitoring and surveillance of where students go and what they do? What are the choices that parents and students have? Continue Reading

KIPP Stand Academy on the move

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KIPP Stand Academy is on the move.The school has decided to move into Minneapolis’ Shingle Creek Elementary School. KIPP’s current location is behind the Basilica of St. Mary at 1601 Laurel Ave. in Minneapolis.KIPP Stand Academy is a charter school that prepares middle schools students for college. KIPP is an acronym for Knowledge is Power Program. Continue Reading

Achieve Minneapolis seeks graduation coaches

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It comes as a surprise to some observers when they find out that the graduation rate in the Minneapolis Public Schools last year was just shy of 54 percent. That means almost half the students don’t graduate on time. And that number represented an improvement over the year 2012.

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Hamline adjunct faculty members vote to join union

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In the first union-organizing election among faculty members at a private college in Minnesota, adjunct instructors at Hamline University in St. Paul voted to join Local 284 of the Service Employees International Union.Eligible faculty members at Hamline cast their ballots by mail earlier this month. A vote tally took place this morning at the Minneapolis office of the National Labor Relations Board, with 72 percent voting in favor of forming the union.In a press release announcing the election results, SEIU declared the election results a “victory for adjunct faculty across the nation,” noting that Hamline faculty members had joined instructors at Northeastern University, Georgetown University and a growing number schools across the U.S. in forming unions via the SEIU’s Adjunct Action campaign.Forming a union is also a step toward improving higher education for students and instructors at the 160-year-old institution, adjunct faculty members said. David Weiss, an adjunct instructor in Hamline’s Religion Department, called it a “great day for faculty, students and the whole Hamline community.”“By coming together to address the low pay and lack of benefits and stability for adjunct faculty, we are taking steps to strengthen all of higher education for students and faculty alike,” he said. “I’m confident that our success today will help empower other workers, including adjunct faculty like ourselves at schools like St. Continue Reading

Rethinking remediation

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A recent study by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education indicated that over a quarter of students at Minnesota colleges and universities have been placed in a remedial course – a class for which they pay but do not receive college credit. At first glance, this appears to be evidence of public schools’ failure. But the story is not that simple. Continue Reading

Two families say FAIR School fails to deal with bullying

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Lisa Love vividly recalls watching the documentary film “Bully” with her sixth grade daughter in the fall of 2013. About halfway through the film, which features the experiences of young bullying victims, Love says her daughter broke down sobbing, saying, “This is what my life at FAIR is like.” Love knew then that she had to pull her daughter from the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource School (FAIR School).

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