Since their conception in the mid-1980s, Professional Development Schools (PDSs) have been seen as vehicles for the simultaneous renewal. Each year, the National Association for Professional Development School (NAPDS) selects PDSs that are exemplars of the NAPDS Nine Essentials. The purpose of this article is to share the comprehensive design of…

Partnerships among professionals within urban school districts and teacher preparation programs are necessary to address teacher shortages through innovative and sustained professional learning from initial clinical experiences through induction (Yendol-Hoppey & Hoppey, 2018). A collaborative model of teacher preparation was envisioned and…

This article documents a collaborative effort between university teacher educators and an urban school district in Wisconsin to address acute teacher shortages in bilingual education. The effort took shape as a Grow-Your-Own program based on the teacher residency model. Several innovations were required in program design and implementation to…

An urban middle school goes through the transformation of becoming a university-supported lab school. Drawing upon design thinking principles, the planning team cultivates a sense of shared empathy, creative problem-solving, and an ethos of curiosity and learning in a collaborative environment.

The tendency in urban schools is that teachers hold incomplete understandings about their students (by virtue of difference in cultural, race, language, and social class) is a lingering challenge since "Brown v. Board of Education" desegregated students in schools while also casting out large numbers of Black educators (Walker, 2013).…

Providing authentic college experiences for students in the middle grades through a partnership with a local college can improve college readiness skills and leave students with a positive view of post-secondary possibilities and opportunities. This article describes a college immersion program--a weeklong college experience provided to all…

To date, relatively little research has examined the perceptions of children and parents involved in university-assisted partnership programs. In this paper, we present findings from a case study of a university-assisted community school (UACS) afterschool program wherein we interviewed participating students and their parents. We also completed…

A cohort comprised of high school and college teachers met for one year to build understanding of the critical transition of high school students to college. The seminar analyzed how current reforms in both systems will impact student skill development and preparedness for college work. The discussions highlighted the need to clarify expectations…

This article explores a research partnership between a university-based researcher and a middle school science teacher. Our partnership began with project-based inquiry and continued with unstructured thought-partner spaces: meetings with no agenda where we wrestled with problems of practice. Framed as incubation periods, these meetings allowed us…

The authors present a culturally responsive college access group to increase educational opportunity for historically targeted high school students. The program was designed for first generation high school students who self-report as having no plans for after high school. The program highlights the need for inter-disciplinary collaboration with…

Current reform efforts seek to redesign teacher education in alignment with a practice-based theory, a fundamental reconceptualization of higher education demanding a tighter alignment with K-12 school practices. The Faculty Research Residency Model--a Department of Education Funds for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) grant…

Increasingly, universities and school districts share responsibility for teacher and student learning. Sharing responsibility demands that both institutions work to develop closer relationships through ongoing engagement, dialogue and negotiation. Drawing from Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), we examined one school/university…

The concept of college readiness is complex because of its many components, and its meaning is further complicated by disparate definitions applied by different postsecondary institutions. The research featured in this study attempts to measure college readiness according to traditional indicators, such as high school GPA and course taking, but…

This study highlights the positive impact of participation in an engineering ambassador program on students from two universities: Oregon State University which is a large public university in a college town with a 13% minority student body, and Howard University, a medium sized private university with a relatively small engineering program in an…

This case explores the first two years of the Lorreltag Partnership Initiative (LPI), an urban, community-5 school-university partnership. It provides a history of the community and elucidates key factors influencing partnership development. The case relies on the perspectives of a community leader, a university faculty member, a new principal,…