• Advertise
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
    • Become a print subscriber
    • Sign up for e-Newsletter
    • e-Editions
Friday, September 22, 2023
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
  • News & Features
    • National
    • Local
    • Special Editions
      • MLK Legacy
      • Black History Month
      • The MSR Celebrates Women’s History Month
  • All Sections
    • Opinion
      • Mellaneous by Mel Reeves
      • Word on the Street
      • Reaching Out From Within
    • Health + Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • Minnesota Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Sports
      • Timberwolves/NBA
      • Lynx/WNBA
        • 20 in 20
      • Twins/MLB
      • MN Wild/NHL
      • Vikings/NFL
    • Business
      • Small Business Month Celebration
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
    • Arts + Culture
    • Photo Galleries
      • Photo of the Week
    • MSR Forefront Digital Roundtable Series
      • MSR Forefront Highlights
    • Go Green
    • Education
    • Bulletin
    • Jobs & Notices
      • Legals
      • Announcements
  • Events
    • Submit an event!
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • e-Editions
No Result
View All Result
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
No Result
View All Result

U of M takes on Minnesota’s school achievement gap

by MSR News Online
August 21, 2013
53
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Goal includes more teachers of color, more ‘partnering’

 

By Lauretta Dawolo Towns

Contributing Writer

 

Jean Quam Photo courtesy of U of M
Jean Quam
Photo courtesy of U of M

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.

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.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“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

Kim Nelson Photo courtesy of General Mills
Kim Nelson
Photo courtesy of General Mills

diversify teacher-candidate pools.

“The kind of program that we are running is working well for a particular population. We need different kinds of programming to better fit [more people]. The intense one-year [option] is not for those we want to get into the classroom,” said Sato.

The TERI program is designed to match up the university’s resources with that of local institutions. “We want to see schools transform as better supportive learning places for kids and better places of learning for teachers with meaningful professional learning opportunities,” said Sato.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

TERI is developing a network of schools in the Minneapolis and St. Paul Public School districts as well as communities like Brooklyn Center and White Bear Lake where teacher candidates can receive more teaching experience in schools. “We want a deeper relationship between the teacher candidate and the cooperating teacher,” said Sato. “We’re not trying to deliver the latest greatest thing, but [solutions] emerged from the schools’ needs.

“We’ve joined resources together to solve a problem that the school identified,” she said. In this way, educators — present and future — can work together in partnership to identify the needs of the community.

TERI is also planning to work with Northside schools like Nellie Stone Johnson and Elizabeth Hall Elementary Schools with a high population of new teaching staff. They will appoint a school liaison from their alumni network for early-career mentoring of teachers, stronger coaching, and teacher retention. Beyond individual schools, TERI is also joining resources with school districts around data sharing.

“What do we understand about the data, performance of our candidates, their strengths, and areas of improvement, so that when we look at teacher-evaluation data, we have a better sense of their needs to strengthen areas of weakness on the preparation side.” So with the right partnerships, research methods, and best practices, what else is needed?

Kim Nelson, senior vice president of external relations at General Mills and co-chair for the Generation Next Leadership Council, gives a nod toward community buy-in. “There are a lot of moving parts to the puzzle, and at a minimum we can connect the dots in a coherent way,” she said.

- ADVERTISEMENT -
Misty Sato Photos courtesy of U of M
Misty Sato
Photos courtesy of U of M

Generation Next is a cross-sector community program to align common goals and elevate best practices on closing the achievement gap. Nelson co-chairs the leadership council along with U of M President Eric Kaler.  According to U of M News Service, Dr. Katrice Albert “is in the process of engaging key community constituents, actively listening, and letting people know that she is ready to partner and dedicate U resources to address the achievement gap and other top concerns.” The council includes representatives from school districts, public officials, philanthropic organizations, the business community, and institutions of higher education all over the Twin Cities.

“The potential and promise of this impact effort is to bring together diverse parts of the community to figure out how…to represent the community. We need institutional alignment and clarity on what needs to be done to leverage resources to improve progress,” she said.

The idea for Generation Next was initiated by Robert Jones, formerly of the University of MN, with a proposal for  a collective impact effort inspired by the Cincinnati Strive model highlighting innovative approaches that stimulate community-wide conversations on what needs to be done. He partnered with the African American Leadership Forum (AALF). Together the U of M and AALF have the capacity to identify best practices that have been successful in closing the achievement gap and drive momentum behind these practices for the sake of children.

“Partnership…we shouldn’t use that term lightly,” said Dean Quam. “We encourage faculty and leadership to get involved. People at the university need to be in the community so that we can fully understand what’s going on and listen when people find something that works. When we learn what works, we can share that information with schools and teachers to make it happen.”

Sato does acknowledge that “a person’s cultural background is significant in helping to frame issues.” Recognition is important, especially in communities that have been over-researched. The new measurement model gives more people a chance to be heard.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

“To close the achievement gap is the long-term vision,” said Sato. “We can’t give up on that. To transform the way schools and universities work together, it will take time to bridge those differences.

“It is essential that we not work in isolation on this problem. We have to work together.”

 

Lauretta Dawolo Towns welcomes reader responses to laurettatowns@gmail.com.

 

Support Black local news

Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.

Donate Now!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Mpls to celebrate March on Washington’s 50th Anniversary

Next Post

March on Washington – 50 years later

MSR News Online

Reach the MSR staff at msrnewsonline@spokesman-recorder.com.

You Might Also Like

Biden administration to ban medical debt from Americans’ credit scores
National

Biden administration to ban medical debt from Americans’ credit scores

Hamline’s Jones claims season’s first individual MIAC award 
Sports

Hamline’s Jones claims season’s first individual MIAC award 

College hockey undergoing ‘significant transformation’
MN Wild/NHL

College hockey undergoing ‘significant transformation’

A child dhould be seen and heard
Bulletin

A child dhould be seen and heard

reparations x broken chains
Opinion

Call for Reparations

Stanley Nelson’s doc ‘Sound of the Police’ dissects police in Black communities
Arts & Culture

Stanley Nelson’s doc ‘Sound of the Police’ dissects police in Black communities

Next Post

March on Washington – 50 years later

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming Events

Sep 12
September 12 @ 6:30 pm-December 18 @ 9:30 pm Recurring

Vic Volare Presents MUSIC FOR MARTINIS ft: Vic’s Fabulous Nightclub Academy

Sep 22
September 22 @ 5:00 pm-September 23 @ 8:30 pm

9th Annual Lantern Lighting Celebration at Lakewood Cemetery

Sep 22
7:30 pm-9:00 pm Recurring

Michhil Amra | We Are The Procession

Sep 23
10:00 am-1:00 pm

Expanding Diversity Career Fair

View Calendar
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Read our latest e-Edition!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe

  • Home/Office Delivery
  • Weekly e-newsletter
  • e-Editions

Support

  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • MSR Newsstand Locations

Connect

  • About
    • MSR Staff
  • Contact
  • Send a news tip
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

No Result
View All Result
  • News & Features
    • Local
    • National
  • All Sections
    • Arts & Culture
    • Health & Wellness
      • Women’s Wellness
      • Parenting Today
      • MN Cancer Alliance Breast Cancer Gaps Project
    • Business
      • Black Business Spotlight
      • Finances FYI
      • Small Business Month Celebration
    • Opinion
    • Sports
  • Events
  • Obits
  • Sister Spokesman
  • Donate
  • Subscribe

© 2023 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: