One of the most pressing challenges in public education today is the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers for America's schools. Research shows teacher shortages exist nationwide but vary by geographic area, content area, demographics, and individual schools. In a recent study of the Future Educators Association[R] (FEA) initiative…

Describes an experiment in K-16 collaboration that is taking place on the Milwaukee Public Schools, Wisconsin. Public school "teachers-in-residence" undertake a 2-year stint at a university program dedicated to mainstreaming multiculturalism in undergraduate education and help create courses for future urban educators. (SLD)

Describes the partnerships developed by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis with public schools and community organizations to improve urban student performance through teacher education and full-service schools (schools that offer a wrap-around of services to eliminate or minimize socioeconomic or health-related barriers to…

Describes the Urban Teachers' Corps, a program of the Great City Universities coalition, that focuses on improving the academic performance of students in school districts that partner with a university through enhanced educator preparation and professional development. (SLD)

Presents a model for an urban P-16 (integrated education from preschool though college) that is meant to reshape and improve teacher education in a way driven by the involvement of major stakeholders in the community. The discussion focuses on partnering activities at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. (SLD)

Describes partnership efforts between the Richmond Public Schools, Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University that have focused on the needs of urban schools. Describes challenges that remain with regard to preparing teachers, mentoring beginning teachers, and retaining experienced teachers. (SLD)

Seven higher education institutions in Massachusetts collaborated to develop and implement Project QUEST (Quality Urban Education and Support for Teachers), a support program for beginning urban teachers. Motivated by both the need to retain beginning teachers beyond the first few years of teaching and the desire to increase urban school…

In response to the challenges of new state-mandated requirements for teacher credentialing, a team of university faculty and school district representatives worked in a collaborative project to support beginning teachers. The outcome of the collaborative is an innovative program that provides support and formative assessment of teachers during…

Broad (1999) observed that "troubled borders crisscross the geography of teacher preparation in English" (p. 373), calling for collaboration where preparation is a university responsibility (Gregorian, 2001). This research documents a three-year complex case study that addressed the question: What happens when English, education, and high school…

The increasing racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity among the populations attending urban schools poses a significant challenge to providing quality public education. Similarly, few would dispute that, in order to meet this challenge effectively, teachers must acquire the cultural competency for creating productive and inclusive learning…

How can the "revolving door" at the nation's high-poverty schools be slowed down? How can diversity be taught in teacher preparation that relates to teaching and learning? How can teachers learn to use the diverse urban classroom as a rich asset? By focusing on reconceptualizing general education studies, addressing key urban understanding and…

This digest provides some guidelines for developing partnerships between schools and outside service agencies and suggests some roles that teachers can play in the process. The successful provision of service depends not only on administrators, but also on people in direct contact with students, including classroom teachers. School administrators…

The Comprehensive Partnerships for Mathematics and Science Achievement (CPMSA) is a National Science Foundation program launched in 1993, designed to improve the mathematics and science education of urban students in medium-sized cities. The goals of the program, in addition to increased enrollments in mathematics and science classes, were to…

Describes the program at Carter G. Woodson elementary school, Baltimore (MD), an urban school serving many at-risk students which has adopted the curriculum and techniques of the Calvert School, a predominantly white, selective private school. There have been readily observable and measurable gains in academic achievement at the public school.…

A major crisis facing urban education is the inability of predominantly white, middle-class college students to deal with the realities of the urban primary school. A program that brings education majors into the urban school is described. The idea of partnership is the guiding principle of this program, in which college students, local teachers…