UWEC is involved with numerous local partnerships that engage School of Education faculty, Arts and Science faculty and PK-12 faculty. One such project is the Center for History Teaching and Learning Project.
1) This project was conceived in the Summer of 2001 through a formal grant submission after conceptual discussions started in February 2001. Funding indications are positive at this time for a possible commencing of activity in Summer/Fall 2002.
2) Improve education in Social Studies and Humanities for grades 6-12 by creating an interdisciplinary, engaged community based “doing history” capacity. This would also include approximately 50 teachers better prepared to teach in this field. It would also help in the creation of an addition to the Virtual Museum of the Chippewa Valley and a “real” archive of artifacts from Augusta, WI history at Augusta Middle/High School. The assessment of outcome will be the actual number of prepared professionals, the creation of the virtual museum and the artifact collection at Augusta Middle/High School.
3) The leading people in this project are Dr. Kate Lang, Assistant Professor of History; Dr. Roger Tlusty, Professor and Chair of Educational Foundations; James Martin, DeLong Middle School (Eau Claire, WI); additional faculty from UWEC Departments of History and Art ; Heather Muir and others from the Wisconsin Historical Society; Jeanne Nyre and others from the Chippewa Valley Museum; designated staff from CESA 10 and Augusta School district.
4) The factors that facilitated progress were earlier projects with real outcomes between the leaders of this project and the attitudes of university and PK-12 personnel willing to try and make this project work. The major inhibiting factor was money. Funding now appears gained through a National Endowment for the Humanities.
5) Through this project, formal and informal partnerships have been created/strengthened between UWEC departments, UWEC generally and the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Chippewa Valley Museum, CESA 10, Eau Claire Public Schools and Augusta Public Schools.
THE INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING PARTNERSHIP
A dynamic collaboration launched in 1997 to improve the quality of teaching and learning in northeast Wisconsin, pre-kindergarten through college. Initial funding to establish the Institute came from the state legislature with the approval of the governor and was distributed through the University of Wisconsin System.
Partners include the districts of northeast Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational Services
Agencies (CESA), regional school boards, PK-12 educators and administrators, Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), Professional Development Academy of WEAC, northeast Wisconsin’s technical colleges, business and community leaders and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
At the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wood Hall Suite 424, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54311-7001.
FOUNDING GOALS and EARLY PROGRESS
· Create the Accomplished Educator Professional Development Certificate (PDC) program for experienced educators. Based on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and Wisconsin's state standards, the PDC is approved by Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for teacher re-licensure and endorsed by WEAC's Professional Development Academy. (First cohort group: 1999; First graduates: 2000)
· Transform UW-Green Bay’s undergraduate teacher preparation program to a standards-based program for students preparing for the teaching profession. (Ongoing)
· Establish a standards-based Master of Science Degree in Applied Leadership for Teaching and Learning, based on the NBPTS standards, at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. (First cohort group: 1998; First graduates: 2000)
· Fund school-based action research through a competitive grant program that documents effective practices to improve teaching and learning. (First Awards: 1998)
· Annual fall conference with keynotes by national figures to examine critical issues in education.
· Showcase the Institute and its research activities at national and regional conferences.
· A quarterly newsletter circulated to over 12,000 readers.
This initiative involves a complex yet highly effective collaboration between UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout, Western Wisconsin Technical College and the school districts of La Crosse, Eau Claire, and Menomonie. This collaborative project is a bilingual teacher education-training program designed to increase the number of certified teachers of Hmong descent throughout the state of Wisconsin. In addition the program has offered bilingual paraprofessionals who are already working within the schools an opportunity to become certified instructors and lead their own classrooms. The program has also provided funds for students to pursue postsecondary degrees and achieve licensing in school counseling and school administration. The outcomes of this program will be measured by the number of students who earn teaching/education degrees and work in the school districts of Wisconsin and beyond. Project Teach is directed at the UW-La Crosse campus; however, it is part of a UW-System and regional school district partnership.
Dr. Ronald S. Rochon, currently serving as Interim Associate Dean of the College of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Teacher Education as well as the Director of the School of Education at UW-La Crosse, is the Director of this collaborative initiative. This project is also supported by our student coordinators—Mary Riordan, Office of Multicultural Affairs at UW-Stout; Charles Vue, American Ethnic Coordinating Office, Katherine Rhoades, Department of Educational Foundations, and the Provost’s office at UW-Eau Claire; and Lee Rasch, President of Western Wisconsin Technical College. In addition, we have established partnerships with leaders at the PK-12 level. These individuals are current superintendents within each of the respective School Districts—Mr. Thomas Downs, La Crosse; Mr. Jesse Harness, Menomonie; and Mr. William Klaus, Eau Claire.
Many positive variables have facilitated the progress of the program and, more importantly, the progress of each of the student participants. Project Teach has received strong support and commitment from several departments, faculty, and staff from the UW-La Crosse campus including, to name just a few, the Chancellor, the Office of the Provost, Admissions, Financial Aid, Financial Administration, the Dean of the College of Liberal Studies, faculty from the English as a Second Language Institute, Student Support Services, as well as the Departments of Psychology, Economics, and Educational Studies. The program also works in collaboration with Thai Vue, Executive Director of the La Crosse area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association, the School District of La Crosse’s English as a Second Language Program, and Pang Cher Vue of the UW-Eau Claire Extension office.
The type of support Project Teach continues to receive includes, yet is not limited to:
· Start up funds and office space to house the program
· Financial assistance to staff the Project Teach office
· Development of new courses from campus-wide departments (i.e. Hmong Language & Culture)
· Consultation from School of Education and other University faculty to increase the efficiency of the program
· Tutoring, counseling, and advising for students
· Campus and community recognition
Project Teach consists of students of Hmong descent from a variety of backgrounds including fifteen recent high school graduates and seven educational paraprofessionals seeking teacher education certification as well as six certified teachers or teacher’s aides seeking graduate degrees in education.
· Of the fifteen recent high school graduates, ten have been officially admitted to the School of Education at their home institutions (UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire, or UW-Stout) and, to date, we have had one recent high school graduate who has finished her teacher education program and currently teaches for the Eau Claire school district.
· Of the seven educational paraprofessionals, three have been officially admitted into the School of Education at their home institutions and, to date, we have had five Hmong educational paraprofessional students who have received a Bachelor degree in education.
· Of the six certified teachers or teacher’s aides, two have completed their coursework and graduated from their programs.
· In May 2002, four students from La Crosse are scheduled to complete their education degrees.
· Project Teach recently graduated the first Principal of Hmong descent in the state of Wisconsin. Kaying Xiong graduated from UW-Eau Claire and currently serves as Principal at Locust Lane Elementary School in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
In addition to Project Teach, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has secured federal funding totaling $1.2 million from the US Department of Education to support another initiative with similar objectives entitled Project Forward, which is also directed by Dr. Ronald S. Rochon. Project Forward is designed to serve the Wisconsin communities of Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, and Wausau including the UW institutions of UW-Stevens Point, UW-Marathon County, and UW-Marshfield/Wood County as well as UW-La Crosse, the principal institution for this project. UW-Stevens Point has also developed collaborative agreements with UW-Superior and UW-Oshkosh who wish to enroll in specialized graduate programs not offered at their institution.
Project Forward consists of students of Hmong descent from a variety of backgrounds including eight recent high school graduates and seventeen educational paraprofessionals seeking teacher education certification as well as four certified teachers or teacher’s aides seeking graduate degrees in education.
· Of the eight recent high school graduates, three have been officially accepted into the School of Education at UW-Stevens Point and two will complete their degrees by the end of this year.
· Of the seventeen educational paraprofessionals, five have been officially accepted into the UW-Stevens Point School of Education, and one will complete her degree by the end of this year.
Project Teach and Project Forward have clearly demonstrated the significance and effectiveness of collaborative partnerships within the UW System. The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse continues to be a principal and active partner within these and several other statewide and regional collaborative initiatives that benefit teacher education.
One of our strongest and most valuable relationships is our Professional Development Schools partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District. A Professional Development School (PDS) is a school with which we have a long-term mutual commitment: the school accepts a relatively large number of our student teachers, and we not only supervise those students but also contribute to the professional development of the regular staff. We now have this relationship with six Madison schools: three elementary, two middle, and one high school. We have selected schools that are succeeding in educating a diverse population of students, most from low-income environments. Thus our students gain a realistic but positive initial experience.
Unlike the traditional model, in which student teachers are placed with individual cooperating teachers in a wide range of schools—and we still use that model as well—in a PDS, a student teacher works in an environment designed to support them and also regular teachers with a richer array of opportunities for professional growth. For example, in our PDSes, there are Instructional Resource Teachers, who are specialists in assisting both beginning and experienced teachers. We and the Madison schools share in paying the salaries of these IRTs. We teach some of our teaching methods courses in the PDS schools, with regular teachers participating alongside our faculty. We offer seminars and special courses, such as Spanish, to both student teachers and regular teachers.
Professional Development Schools have been compared to teaching hospitals. A medical intern works, not just with one doctor, but in an environment committed to medical education. They have also been compared to the laboratory schools of the 1940s and ‘50s, but with one crucial difference; instead of a carefully-selected population of students, often the children of university faculty, PDSes are regular public schools, with a diverse and often challenging mix of typical students, including students with disabilities.
We now place about 30% of our student teachers in our PDS schools, and that proportion will increase. The relationship, now in its sixth year, is affiliated with UNITE, a national network of schools of education committed to preparing excellent teachers for urban settings. For more information about this partnership, visit http://labweb.education.wisc.edu/pds. The leader of the project is Associate Dean Kenneth Zeichner, who can be reached at zeichner@education.wisc.edu or (608) 262-6136.
We believe that students educated in these settings are better prepared to succeed in their first teaching positions, and the feedback we receive from our graduates and their employers bears that out. One of the greatest challenges is, of course, limited funding. The program is supported by an annual allocation from the UW-Madison Provost’s Office, as well as funding from the School of Education.
The Milwaukee Partnership Academy began in the fall of 1999. It is an Urban P-16 Council for Quality Teaching Teaching and Learning, designed to develop a comprehensive teacher education prototype for preparing K-12 teachers for high needs schools through a strong and unique partnership. The partnership is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, the Milwaukee Teacher Education Association, the Milwaukee Area Technical College, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce and the Private Industry Council of Greater Milwaukee. The purpose of the Partnership is to improve the education of children through better preparation, recruitment and retention of teachers for urban schools as well as to provide access to teaching for educational assistants, paraprofessionals, and other entry-level employees of Milwaukee Public Schools, especially people of color, at both the undergraduate and post-baccalaureate level.
The broad initiative of the Milwaukee Partnership Academy is to assure that every child in Milwaukee Public Schools is performing at or above grade level in reading, writing, and mathematics through shared responsibility for student success. As a result of the Milwaukee Partnership Academy Balanced Literacy Framework initiative for Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Partnership Academy has formed an Implementation Team to develop the detailed action plan. The Milwaukee Partnership Academy Board of Directors meets each month to formulate and reach consensus on the work of the Implementation Team.
The Title II grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education initiated the Milwaukee Partnership Academy governance structure. As this structure becomes institutionalized in the Milwaukee community, the goal is to ensure responsiveness to various community stakeholders, to create an annual focus for partnership activities, and provide stable financial basis for increased teacher needs in Milwaukee Public Schools.
The Board of Directors is found at http://www.uwm.edu/Org/MPA/board_of_directors.htm.
The Implementation Team members can be seen at http://www.uwm.edu/Org/MPA/implementation_team.htm. The website for the Milwaukee Partnership Academy can be found at http://www.uwm.edu/Org/MPA/
One example of our collaboration with P-12 schools is the Bilingual Education Consortia established as part of our US Department of Education Bilingual Education Title VII five-year grant for nearly $1.2 million. This group includes the school districts of Appleton, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Kaukauna, Manitowoc, Menasha, Neenah, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, Two Rivers, and Wausau, the UW Oshkosh Head Start, UW Fox Valley, UW Fond du Lac, UW Sheboygan, and UW Manitowoc. The Consortia is designed to support recruitment of school personnel interested in obtaining licensure in bilingual education and/or English as a Second Language and also those teachers and administrators interested in professional development in this area. The teachers and administrators funded under the grant will work toward addressing the language and academic needs of children in northeast Wisconsin. There is a growing number of students in area schools whose first languages are not English.
Dr. Donald Hones, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction and Dean Carmen Coballes-Vega are Co-Project Directors. The five-year program will:
Provide scholarships to prepare 45 bilingual teachers who will be licensed in bilingual education/ESL and elementary or secondary education.
· Provide scholarships and grants to six bilingual educators to become licensed as school principals.
· Provide funding to prepare 100 classroom teachers to be licensed in ESL.
· Provide beginning-of-the-school-year workshops for new teachers and teacher aides that focus on how to promote the academic achievement of students with limited skills in English in all classes.
During the 1998-99 school year there were 6,593 Hmong students with limited English skills in the 11 school districts that are joining UW Oshkosh in the project, but only two certified bilingual teachers who speak Hmong. In addition, there is a rapidly growing population of Spanish-speaking students in the area. The project will add 151 bilingual/ESL teachers and principals in area districts.
1. For many years individual faculty members, either independently or through the Center for Community Partnerships or the Center for Community-Based Learning have long been involved in providing in-service professional development support for area teachers. With funds secured by the Chancellor from the Johnson Foundation in Fall 2001, UW-Parkside became formally engaged in a campus-wide planning effort that will issue a set of recommendations in the following areas: campus-wide responsibilities for preparing future teachers, pre-service activities that will better prepare future teachers, in-service professional development strategies to enhance retention and professional expertise, the urban multicultural focus, and technology. These five areas are not seen as separate and distinct from one another; rather they each contribute to a single strategy for preparing teachers for the 21st century classroom and for encouraging them to stay in the profession. During the course of this planning effort, there have been several meetings with personnel from several districts and schools in the region about these five areas. There have also been conversations with the national headquarters of the PTA regarding how future teachers can be prepared for effective interactions with parents and parent groups. We are in the process of developing a more detailed PK-16 plan.
2. Increases in the number of individuals (a) applying to the Teacher Education program, completing the program, (b) securing full-time teaching positions, and (c) remaining in the teaching profession for at least five years will be prime indicators of the effectiveness of these initiatives.
3. The Chancellor, the Provost, and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences are the persons leading these efforts.
4. Facilitating Factors: The Department of Teacher Education is housed within the College of Arts and Sciences. Faculty in the “content area” departments are very supportive of the University’s mission to prepare future teachers, to provide professional development opportunities to new teachers, and to partner with area teachers in both disciplinary and pedagogical initiatives.
Inhibiting Factors: Insufficient communication among “content area” departments across the UW System regarding PI 34 Standards and teacher preparation generally.
5. The UW-Parkside campus has entered into a variety of formal relationships with the Burlington School District.
1. The professional development school (Platteville, WI) in early childhood education (Prek-Grade 4) that has been in operation 8 years.
2. Intended outcomes were to reduce staff to child ratio and improve student achievement in PreK-Grade 4 classrooms. In responding to the mandates of PI34, the School of Education is working toward a more comprehensive block of courses related to the practicum to facilitate scheduling university students into public school classrooms for longer and more concentrated periods of time (we anticipate Fall 03 as a start date).
3. Gwen Coe, Associate Professor Teacher Education UWP; Al Eveland, Principal/Elementary Director Neal Wilkins Elementary School (Platteville); Mary Lou Jones, Program Director/Staff Development Coordinator, O.E. Gray Early Learning Center (Platteville).
4. Biggest challenges include (frequently competing) university scheduling; declining public school enrollments in southwest Wisconsin.
Our education unit has numerous partnerships with individual schools and districts, groups of districts, and post-secondary institutions that involve College of Arts and Sciences and College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (as well as the College of Education and Professional Studies) as appropriate. At this time we do not have a coordinated plan for these partnerships, nor are we collaborating formally with other UW four-year institutions.
I will highlight the St. Croix Valley Educational Partnership, a collaboration with 4 Wisconsin districts and 2 Minnesota districts that have been among our strongest partners for many years. The partnership was founded in the 1970s as the St. Croix Valley Association for Teacher Education, and was a strong vehicle for collaboration for many years. By the late 1990s it had lost momentum, and in 2000 was reconstituted under the new name. A Steering Committee of teachers and administrators from K-12 schools as well as university faculty and administrators meets three times a year to develop ways to improve teacher education and move toward compliance with new PI34 requirements. Both teacher education and other university faculty are invited to participate in these meetings. The group has also planned to host an annual gathering for teachers, administrators, university faculty and administrators, and representatives from UW-Barron and Chippewa Valley Technical College. However, budget cuts and job actions by teachers from the districts involved have led to postponing this event.
Members of the Steering Committee include:
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New Richmond Public Schools |
Wanda Schlesser, West Elementary |
Principal |
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Prescott Public Schools |
Pat Hall, Prescott Middle School |
Principal |
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River Falls Public Schools |
Pat McCardle, Greenwood Elementary |
Principal |
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Jane Webb, Greenwood Elementary |
Teacher |
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Hastings Public Schools |
Nancy Techam , Kennedy Elementary |
Principal |
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Karen Carlson, McAuliffe Elementary |
Teacher |
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Stillwater Public Schools |
Loretta Peterson, Stonebridge Elementary |
Teacher |
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Hudson Public Schools |
Chuck Sambs, Hudson School District |
Curriculum Director |
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CVTC |
Jacquelynne Goodman |
Campus Administration |
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CESA11 |
Trish Graves |
Professional Staff |
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COEPS |
Connie Foster |
Interim Dean |
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Mary Manke |
Assoc. Dean |
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Dee McCollum |
Dir. Field Experiences |
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Tim Holleran |
Teacher Education faculty |
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Early Childhood |
Angela Kaiser |
Dir., The University Preschool; Teacher Education faculty |
The primary focus of the Steering Committee this year has been on finding ways to increase the number of teachers who are willing to volunteer to supervise student teachers and interns within the partnership, and to participate in determining how best to evaluate student teachers and interns in terms of their mastery of the Wisconsin Teacher Standards (PI34). The schools in the partnership provide placements for large numbers of our student teachers and interns, as well as early field placements for a variety of programs. These outcomes can be measured by the rate of increase in placements and successful placements, and in the acceptance by cooperating teachers of the new methods of evaluation.
UWSP has over 24 special collaborations among the University (all parts), districts, 2-year campuses, and CESAs for programs of professional development for teachers. One count showed over 4,000 teachers involved. UWSP also has over 30 special collaborations among the University (all parts) and districts to provide enrichment opportunities for K-12 youth. The attached lists identify some of those programs.
The reason we did not check #1 despite all this collaboration throughout the University, is that these collaborations take place at the department level between University faculty and students and school personnel and K-12 kids. This decentralized approach, we believe, produces more opportunities for K-12 collaboration and long-term commitment to them. There is not a well-developed "plan" organized from the Chancellor's office. The Chancellor encourages collaboration with schools and actively participates himself in meeting with school personnel. Partnerships are one of UWSP's main goals.
UWSP has taken pride in its decentralized approach to teacher education, in which foreign language or English takes as much pride and responsibility for teacher education as does the School of Education in the College of Professional Studies. My guess is that UWSP has done as much or more collaboration with PK-12 districts than any campus with a "well-articulated" plan.
1. The University of Wisconsin-Stout has signed an overall agreement to articulate programs with the Wisconsin Technical College System. There have been articulation agreements in place with technical colleges for over 10 years in the areas of Early Childhood Education (Dr. Mary Thompson, program director), Hospitality and Tourism (Mr. Darrell VanLoenen, program director), Human Development and Family Studies (Dr. Judy Rommel, program director), Food Management Technology (Dr. Janice Coker, program director), and Dietetics (Dr. Carol Seaborn, program director). Provost Sedlak recently signed a new agreement in Service Management with Fox Valley Technical College and North Central Technical College. High school students are able to move into technical college programs in these areas of study and eventually transfer many credits to the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
2. Outcomes can be determined by counting the number of students who transfer courses from a technical college program into a UW-Stout program.
3. Examples of persons in charge of these efforts include: Provost Robert Sedlak, UW-Stout; Sue Brown, Chippewa Valley Technical College; and Jesse Harness, Menomonie Schools.
4. UW-Stout programs tend to have a relationship with technical college programs because of the content offered and the unique array of teacher education programs at Stout. However, faculty do want input in assuring that content from either place is consistent and of equal educational quality.
5. There is a Chippewa Valley educational group that has representatives from UW-Stout, UW-Eau Claire, CESA 11, Superintendents of Public Schools in Menomonie, Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, the Job Corps, and the Chippewa Valley Technical College.
The Teacher Education Department has implemented a Teacher Advisory Council, composed of representatives from local educational agencies and staff positions (superintendent, principal, cooperative teachers – elementary and secondary, graduates of masters programs, and graduates of undergraduate programs). The chair of the Languages and Literature Department represents letters and sciences. This initiative has been in effect for three years. The Council meets twice a year and provides guidance in teacher education efforts. The Chancellor met with this group in the fall to discuss the PK-16 Initiative.
To extend the involvement of the local PK-16 education leader, the Chancellor held an Education Summit in the spring. Superintendents of all local educational agencies, the vocational technical school, and members of the Teacher Advisory Council and chairs of all academic departments on the campus were invited. Selected other personnel were also invited to discuss educational needs in an era of restricted monetary support. Several ideas were developed on how the University can be of more service to these entities. From this Summit, the Chancellor designated the Dean to work with the Director of Curriculum and Instruction of the local school system to plan for the next meeting. This will lead to the development of a well-articulated plan. Progress has been slowed by the recent focus on dealing with funding deficits.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has a number of initiatives involving PK-12 collaboration as well as collaborations with other institutions of higher education. One initiative that provides an excellent example of collaboration is the UW-Whitewater-Janesville School District Co-Teaching Project. This project has operated for over ten years as a partnership with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Department of Special Education at the university, and one of the elementary schools in the Janesville School District. Essentially, the elementary school was restructured so that classes are team taught with a regular education teacher, a special education teacher, a regular education student teacher, and a special education student teacher. This four-person team approach to inclusion is jointly planned and administered by the elementary school teachers and faculty from out two departments. Student teacher success is measured by an extensive portfolio process. Dr. Robin Warden, the chair of the Department of Special Education, is the contact person for this program.
The success of this program is based on the excellent collaboration skills of the people involved. The university helps support the program financially by contributing a share of the costs to hire substitutes so that the teachers involved can meet regularly to plan.
UW-Extension is a unique institution in that it does not offer credits or degrees, but rather facilitates the offering of credit courses and degree programs primarily to adults who are not served in typical undergraduate programs.
Example of one initiative that illustrates UW-Extension’s collaborative efforts:
On a statewide level we have engaged in a partnership with the TEACH Committee on Collaboration to build the IDEAS Portal Website (http//:www.ideas.wisconsin.edu) The Teach Committee on Collaboration includes UW System, Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Technical Colleges, Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges, Teach Wisconsin, and the Educational Communications Board. Through this project we have engaged faculty from UW institutions (from both Schools and Colleges of Education and Letters and Science) to work with teachers in PK-12 schools and Cooperative Educational Service Agency staff to identify, evaluate, and rate on-line education resources that are mapped to the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards.
The IDEAS Portal Website project has been in operation since February of 2000 with the hiring of the Project Director, John A. Fischer (UWEX-Continuing Education), assisted by Nathan Trick, Associate Information Processing Consultant at Instructional Communications Systems (ICS). Under his direction, the initial team of teacher-researchers was hired, the evaluation rubric constructed, the web site built and populated with resources tested in Wisconsin classrooms, and initial marketing was begun. The web site was designed to allow teachers to search for reviewed resources by grade, subject, or academic standard. The official web site went live in August, and in only 8 months has received 1,000,000 hits, with the average time on site being 12-13minutes and over 16,000 educators have sent the website identification (url) to another who they believe will find it useful.
Factors that have supported our progress have included the support of the Teach Committee on Collaboration for this initiative and the financial support of the Committee along with contributions from UW System and UW-Extension. We have also been fortunate to have the support of the UW campuses in approving overload payments for education and letters and science faculty who have served as researchers for the project. School districts such as the Madison Metropolitan School District and the Milwaukee Public School district have been critical in identifying classroom teachers to participate as researchers, as have a number of CESAs and educational associations. Agencies and organizations are beginning to recognize the unique value of the IDEAS Portal. Most recently, the Wisconsin Arts Board have begun to collaborate with the project to enable their web resources to be included in the searchable database. And ultimately the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the teacher-users of the site, the target audience, has encouraged our current effort and pointed to directions for further development of the site.
Factors that have inhibited our progress are primarily associated with funding. The initial funding from TEACH was critical to the launch of the site, but sustainability and growth need continued funding and to date, all funding has been from gifts and grants. The project manager is active in seeking additional funding, but it is difficult to plan for expansion of the site when funding is uncertain. A number of funding scenarios are in development, but will depend on having the site achieve critical mass in terms of resources and users.
UW-Extension is not part of the formal TEACH Committee on Collaboration, but has in essence taken a leadership role in developing a resource for teachers that both the committee and the teacher-users have a key need for state educators.
Other Examples, briefly noted:
It must be noted, that through our partnership with continuing education programs on all 26 UW campuses, we have established service to PK-12 as one of our three priority areas. We work to support local campus efforts such as the UW-Stevens Point and UW-LaCrosse Learning Community Program that provides Masters of Education to cohorts of in-service treachers in a number of communities around the state or to engage in a partnership between UW-Learning Innovations and UW-LaCrosse to provide an on-line certificate program for teachers dealing with at risk students.
Wisconsin Public Television and Public Radio, a service of the University of Wisconsin-Extension and the Educational Communications Board (ECB) produces and assists the ECB in the production of resources for teachers, e.g. “Cultural Horizons of Wisconsin.” Wisconsin Public Television has also partnered with Cooperative Extension in the First Book Program to more than 40 counties.
Through the UW-Extension School Readiness Project of Cooperative Education Family Living Program, participating communities are supported in development of partnerships between young people and organizations. Each community task force looks at school success on three levels, the child, the family, and the community and adapts the projects initiated to local concerns and culture.
PK-16 Principles Planning Framework