PCC is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and is an example of the best in educational innovation and reform.

v      THE GRANT

v      WHO IS INVOLVED?

v      HOW WILL THE GOALS  BE ACCOMPLISHED?

v      HOW WILL SUCCESS  BE JUDGED—ACCOUNTABILITY

v      BGSU HAS ACHIEVED A POSITION OF NATIONAL PROMINENCE IN EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND INNOVATION

v      OPPORTUNITIES FOR BGSU FACULTY

v      WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

v      FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Teacher Quality Enhancement Program of the U.S. Department of Education awarded a grant of $4.2 million over a five-year period to Bowling Green State University. The ultimate goal of this project is to improve the support and training of teachers in high-need urban schools. This project will complement the previously announced $4.7 million dollar “Gear-Up” project which focuses on support of students in urban schools.

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The project director, Dr. Robert Midden, and the project coordinator, Ms. Connie Black-Postl will work with a leadership team consisting of Dr. William Armaline, Dr. Robert Berns, Dr. Elizabeth Cole, Dr. Kathy Farber, Dr. Rosalind Hammond and Dr. Julia McArthur to coordinate the following groups working collaboratively towards the common goal of improving teacher preparation and support:

•          Faculty from nearly all Colleges of Bowling Green State University
•          BGSU students preparing to be teachers in high-need urban schools
•          Students, teachers and administrators in high-need urban schools
•          Community organizations
•          Local businesses

Initially, the project will involve schools in East Toledo: East Toledo Junior High, Waite High School and several elementary schools in that feeder system. Later, other schools in the Woodward High School feeder system such as Leverette Junior High School may become involved. Community organizations involved will include the East Toledo Family Center, the Sofia Quintero Art & Cultural Center and Common Space. Businesses will include Sunoco MidAmerica Marketing and Refining, the Ball Corporation in Findlay and representatives from the East Toledo Club. The ultimate goal is to find ways to improve learning for all students in the Toledo Public School District and for all students in the United States.

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The title of the project, “Partners in Context and Community,” represents the three key concepts: 1) Partners = collaboration and teamwork, 2) Context = connecting learning to the world beyond the classroom and 3) Community = building communities of learners.

Collaboration and Teamwork

Collaboration will be a central feature of the project. The best knowledge of all the participants will be pooled and used to improve the training of future teachers at BGSU and the support of teachers in urban schools.

• Faculty and students at BGSU will work with teachers, administrators and parents in urban schools, community organizations and local businesses to find the best way to improve student learning and to provide support for teachers and administrators in those schools in the form of professional development (training) and computer technology, including delivery of professional development over the Internet.
• These same groups will also work together to improve courses for BGSU students who are preparing to be teachers, including content area courses such as history, chemistry and math, as well as education courses.

Connecting Learning to the World Beyond the University (Contextual Learning)

• Future teachers at BGSU will work in the public schools at each stage in their college training so that they can acquire a better and deeper understanding of what they need to learn to be successful teachers. They will also interact with community organizations and businesses to acquire a better understanding of the social, cultural, economic and political environment in which students and their families are involved so that these future teachers will be better able to work in high-need urban situations and be more successful teachers. And they will be given specific training on what works best for teaching in high need urban schools.
• Courses will be redesigned, both at BGSU and in the high-need urban schools, so that they incorporate real world situations to make learning more realistic, to connect it better to knowledge that students already have, and to increase student motivation and understanding as well as their ability to apply what they learn to real, useful applications.

Building Communities of Learners

• BGSU students in this project will live in a residential learning community. Some faculty will have offices in this residence hall; faculty and students will work with residence hall staff to build a more seamless learning environment; special events, activities and programs will be provided in this hall to help students learn beyond the traditional classroom environment.

• Students will be trained in collaborative teamwork skills so they can reinforce and enhance each other’s learning since there is abundant evidence that this leads to increased academic achievement and success.

• A teacher from the Toledo Public School District will work full time on the BGSU campus to help improve the instruction of future teachers

• A Web-based teacher training system will be used to enable small groups of learners (BGSU faculty, future teachers and teachers already in urban schools) to work together in learning how to best teach. This system creates what are called virtual learning communities in which participants share solutions to the problems that they encounter in teaching and build on one another’s experience, ideas and successes.

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A variety of methods will be used to judge the success of the project. These assessments are required by the grant program and will include:

For BGSU future teachers:

• student performance on Praxis II and Praxis III (state required assessments of content knowledge and teaching ability)
• grades in BGSU courses
• number of students who choose to teach in urban schools
• number of teachers from BGSU who continue teaching in urban schools for more than three years and the quality of their teaching

In the urban schools:

• student success rates on state proficiency exams
• student grades
• student suspensions
• student absences
• dropout and graduation rates
• number of students entering and graduating from post-secondary educational institutions
•   student success and satisfaction in their careers and in their lives as citizens and family members

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EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND INNOVATION 

This project builds on the success of several other projects in educational reform and research and this grant was awarded in part, based on the prior successes of the University in these areas. These prior projects include:

• Literacy Serve and Learn—a joint project of Bowling Green State University and the Toledo Public Schools in which BGSU students tutor TPS students in reading and math twice each week

• TAPESTRIES – a project funded by the National Science Foundation in which BGSU faculty from the College of Education and Human Development work with science faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences and the University of Toledo education and arts of science faculty in providing training for teachers from the Toledo Public Schools and Springfield Public Schools in the use of innovative science curriculum materials

• An Interactive, Web-based Model for the Professional Development of Teachers in Contextual Teaching and Learning—an innovative system created under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education by a group of faculty from several BGSU colleges in partnership with Norwalk City Schools, South Central Local Schools, and EHOVE Career Center.

•   “Project PICT” —a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for effectively integrating computer technology into elementary and secondary school classrooms to improve student learning

•   “Project EXCITE” —a grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences to support innovation in environmental health education

• The Chapman Learning Community, a nationally recognized residential learning community that has increased student academic achievement, retention and satisfaction with their college experience

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• Working with other BGSU faculty, students and TPS teachers to revise courses to provide better training for future teachers by combining richer content with effective teaching methods and incorporating contextual learning strategies, in some cases using the CTL web system.

• Visiting East Toledo schools and community organizations to provide support for the improvement of the schools.

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Faculty who teach courses that are taken by future teachers at BGSU. This includes faculty from nearly all colleges in the University, especially Arts & Sciences, Technology, Business Administration, Musical Arts as well as Education and Human Development.

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If you have questions or would like more information please contact:   

Project Director: Dr. Robert Midden (419)372-0563 midden@bgnet.bgsu.edu		Project Coordinator: Ms. Connie Black-Postl (419)372-9443 blackc@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Partners in Context & Community 209E Harshman Hall Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH 43403-4201 Fax: 419/372-9779

Or one of the other members of the PCC leadership team:

Dr. Julia McArthur		Dr. William Armaline
(419)372-7365		(419)372-9491
Dr. Robert G. Berns		Dr. Kathy Farber
(419)372-2904		(419)372-7333
Dr. Elizabeth Cole		Dr. Rosalind Hammond
(419)372-2017		(419)372-7401

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Partners in Context & Community
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/as/pcc
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403
Copyright © 2001. Bowling Green State University.
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