The exemplary practices highlighted in this session are in various stages of development and build on a strong history of partnership activity. A recent inventory, for example, identified over 140 cooperative endeavors between The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) and the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Throughout the winter and spring of 1999, several additional local partners built upon these cooperative endeavors and developed a comprehensive proposal in response to the call for proposals issued in the Grants For Improving Teacher Quality by the U, S, Department of Education. In September of 1999, they were notified that their collaboratively developed proposal was one of 25 selected for funding. Major goals and strategies outlined in that proposal are shared here, and will be highlighted in the presentation.

This proposal was put forward by a new and extended partnership comprised of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM), the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA), the Milwaukee Board of School Directors (MBSD), Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), and Ameritech. A prior history of partnership activity has resulted in the development of nontraditional programs designed to prepare teachers for urban schools and school communities. As a result of their intensive planning for this proposal these local partners decided to develop a new and unique governance structure. The Milwaukee Partnership Academy for Teacher Quality, dedicated to coordinated planning for teacher education endeavors intersecting with urban school renewal.

The overarching goal of the Academy is to develop a comprehensive teacher education prototype preparing K-8 teachers for high need schools. The prototype calls for aligned changes in the letters and sciences, professional preparation, and entry into the profession so that the outcome is a more coherent, protracted and potent form of teacher preparation. Primary goals and activities include:

Grounding teacher preparation in a robust and contemporary view of teaching and learning that stresses self-regulation, application to real problems, responsiveness to diversity and the utilization of modem communications technology,

Providing multiple access through a teacher education continuum which begins with paraprofessionals and extends to advanced leadership preparation for veteran teachers in a coordinated cluster of traditional and non-traditional programs.

Implementing curriculum changes for prospective elementary teachers in the Letters and Science, both in the content areas they teach and in the development of a unique cultures and communities sequence of courses designed for them to better understand and draw on the rich resources of urban communities.

Emphasizing access and support for prospective minority teachers with the goal of greatly increasing the number of such teachers in MPS.

Engaging veteran teachers in all aspects of initial teacher preparation, including letters and science, professional programs and entry year.

Expanding the role of higher education faculty in K- 12 school reform initiatives to ensure the alignment of teacher preparation with school innovation.

This partnership is designed to sustain a coordinated and comprehensive response to the needs of the children and youth who attend the Milwaukee Public Schools and to help assure that each of them has a caring, competent, and highly qualified teacher. The Milwaukee Public Schools serve over 100,000 students in 160 buildings, with a teaching force of over 6,000 teachers. Each year for the next five years MPS will need to hire between 800-1,000 new teachers, In previous years fifty percent of those who graduated from UWM in teacher education have taken positions in MPS. This fact, together with UWM's location in the city and the fact that its future students are largely graduates of MPS, underscores that UWM has a special responsibility for improving the quality of the teaching force in Milwaukee.

The Academy is committed to responding to the sheer need for increased numbers of teachers who are committed to teaching in MPS by providing multiple entry points into teaching and particularly multiple entry points to increase the number of prospective minority teachers. Programs in the cluster serve undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and two-year degree students at technical colleges, as well as paraprofessionals at both the undergraduate and post-baccalaureate levels. The range and focus of these programs enables the partnership members to begin to think in terms of going to scale; one preservice program is unrealistic to meet this challenge. Thus, a unique cluster of traditional and nontraditional preservice programs is linked by a commitment to a set of core values and practices. This cluster of programs calls for these elementary teachers to demonstrate a high degree of pedagogical content knowledge and skill but given the emphasis on urban contexts to anchor their teaching in valuing and actively drawing upon the urban context in which their students live as well. Further, an overarching goal is to embed modern communications technology across all aspects of teaching,

The Academy is committed to supporting a direct -connection between the University and the local schools and their reform through the central role of practicing, experienced MPS teachers. These carefully selected teachers will participate in every aspect of the preservice experience including letters and science experiences, the professional programs and through clinical work in MPS schools that bring UWM faculty and preservice students directly into the schools on a sustained basis. These experienced teachers will be linked by their participation in an ongoing, joint leadership development program that is a direct function of the work they do in improving the quality of prospective teachers. In summary, six broad goals drive the work of the Academy:

1. To implement a shared governance structure, the Milwaukee Partnership Academy, based on joint responsibility and authority that includes the executive officers of the key agencies with a vested interest in teacher quality in the greater Milwaukee area.

2. To develop a comprehensive K-8 teacher preparation prototype for high-need schools that begins in the College of Letters and Science, continues through a redesigned cluster of professional programs and extends into the first year(s) of teaching while substantially integrating the use of technology into teaching and teacher preparation.

3. To increase substantially the number of teachers and especially minority teachers, to take positions in urban schools and particularly MPS.

4. To increase substantially the retention of beginning teachers by continuing teacher education in an articulated manner into the first year of teaching, and by strengthening the current mentor program.

5. To increase substantially the retention of experienced teachers by designing and implementing a unique, post-master's leadership development program for experienced teachers. After their tenure in assisting with initial teacher preparation and participating in the joint leadership development program, they will return to their K-12 schools to work in shared leadership roles with school administrators with responsibilities for school renewal and continuing professional development.

6. To facilitate a strategic redesign process for the adaptation of components and related high-quality materials from this local prototype across a national network of urban partnerships.

Mission

The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM) is Wisconsin's premier public urban university and one of two public doctoral research universities in the state. A priority is its cooperation with the greater Milwaukee community to ensure that its teaching, research and service contribute to the community and to draw in a continuing manner on the rich resources of the community. UWM enrolls over 23,000 students and serves them with a faculty and instructional staff of almost 1,400. They are located in eleven different schools and colleges offering more then 100 undergraduate majors, 47 master's programs and 17 doctoral programs,

The School of Education offers a variety of programs leading to teacher licensure in early childhood, primary/middle, middle/secondary and exceptional education with dual majors possible. The School enrolls almost 2,500 students with over 1,700 of those pursuing a teaching license.

The College of Letters and Science is the largest academic unit on the campus with as many as 7,600 students enrolled at any one time. With a faculty of 330 it offers a wide range of programs at the baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate level ranging from Africology and Anthropology to Political Science and Urban Studies.

The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) serves over 105,000 students in twenty secondary and 138 middle and elementary schools, The student population is predominantly African American (61%), followed by Caucasian (17%), Hispanic (14%) and Asian (5%). MPS is known for its range of school innovations including comprehensive wrap around schools, year round schools, and several charter schools, including ones sponsored by UWM.

Key Partnership Representatives

Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor, The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Spence Korte, Superintendent, The Milwaukee Public Schools
Sam Carmen, Executive Director, The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association
William Harvey, Dean, UWM School of Education
Marshall Goodman, Dean, UWM College of Letters and Science

For more information on these exemplary practices contact:

Dr. Linda Post, Chairperson, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Phone: (414) 229-4179
Email: lpost@uwm.edu
Fax: (414) 229-5571
Address: Enderis Hall 309
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P. O. Box 413
Milwaukee, W1 53211-0413

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