Teacher Education @ PennGSE :: Collaborate :: PennGSE, University and Community Partners

PennGSE, University and Community Partners

PennGSE teacher education programs have extensive partnerships with University and school district researchers and practitioners who are dedicated to extending learning and practice in urban schools.

The Philadelphia Writing Project

The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), located at PennGSE, is a site of the National Writing Project. It is a growing teacher network of over 600 K-12 teacher consultants who work in a variety of ways with teachers and other educators to explore literacy, writing, teaching and learning in their classrooms and schools regardless of grade or discipline. The mission of the Philadelphia Writing Project is to enhance the teaching of writing as a critical tool for learning in all Philadelphia schools, and to support and provide high quality professional development based on current literacy research while encouraging inquiry and leadership in and across classrooms and schools.
http://www.gse.upenn.edu/philwp/

MetroMath

MetroMath is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary effort involving faculty from three universities with expertise in mathematics, urban education, mathematics education, cognitive science, urban studies, psychology, and educational policy. At PennGSE, MetroMath is directed by Dr. Janine Remillard. Substantial numbers of urban students do not attain the mathematical skills and understandings needed for success in today's world. This is an unacceptable loss, both for these students and for America. Researchers at MetroMath are committed to finding research-based ways to ensure that: (1) urban children learn the mathematics they need; (2) urban mathematics teachers are equipped with the most effective instructional strategies; and (3) the human resources of urban communities are used effectively to help children learn.
http://www.metromath.org/

I-TEST & SPARK!

Professor Susan Yoon is the lead researcher on two projects taking place in Philadelphia’s public schools: an I-TEST grant slated to infuse understandings about nanotechnology in the School District of Philadelphia curricula; and SPARK!, a set of outside of school day learning opportunities for youth in grades 3-8 that meet in the Philadelphia Zoo, in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and in other sites. See Dr. Yoon’s home page for more information:
http://www.gse.upenn.edu/faculty/yoon.html

Penn Partnership Schools

PennGSE leads the University's effort to develop and operate the University-assisted, public PreK-8 neighborhood school in West Philadelphia, the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School . Commonly called the Penn Alexander School, this initiative represents an important direction for the University - partnering with the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers - to create a high performing public school. It also significantly expands the University's deepening involvement in the community and represents an enormous opportunity for GSE students. GSE faculty and students are involved in many ways - as student teachers, teachers, tutors, mentors, consultants and researchers, working with teachers from this school and schools throughout the entire Philadelphia school system to improve teaching and learning. The school offers a rigorous academic program in a state-of-the-art facility surrounded by plentiful greenspace as well as a clinical setting for professional growth and development of pre-service and in-service teachers, and implementing best practices in instructional and curricular programs. Visit the school's website, to see the school community in action: http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/pennalexander.

PennGSE is in the process of developing a high school that will focus on international studies as the next step in developing this partnership with the School District of Philadelphia to serve the needs of local young people and their communities.

PennGSE, under contract with the School District of Philadelphia and in partnership with the schools’ faculties and principals, provides significant administrative, curricular and professional development support and guidance to two other West Philadelphia elementary schools, the Alexander Wilson School and the Henry C. Lea School.

School District of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia is the eighth largest school district in the nation (@167,000 students). Located in a historic and culturally rich setting, the District is a racially and ethnically diverse community. There are 291 public schools and 55 charter schools serving a community of students that is 62% African American, 6% Asian heritage, 17% Hispanic heritage, 13% European Americans and less than 1% Native American.
http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/

Other Partnership Links

There are numerous partners whose work parallels our concern with urban education and preparing excellent teacher-leaders. Below are some links that express the diversity of collaboration in the teacher education programs:

Penn Center for Educational Leadership	http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pcel/
Penn Literacy Network	http://www.gse.upenn.edu/pln/
Center for Schools Study Council	http://www.gse.upenn.edu/cssc/
Educational Leadership Program for Aspiring Principals	http://www.gse.upenn.edu/app/
Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships	http://www.upenn.edu/ccp/index.php
West Philadelphia Improvement Corps	http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~wepic/
Teachers Institute of Philadelphia	http://www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/
Say Yes to Education	http://www.gse.upenn.edu/sayyes/

Penn Global Links

Our teacher education programs, reflecting the Penn Compact’s mandate to engage both locally and globally (http://www.upenn.edu/compact/), have increasingly grasped that urban students need to understand themselves as members of a complex global community. In seeking understanding of how to infuse our teacher education programs with global perspectives, the Center for Collaborative Research and Practice in Teacher Education recently partnered with the Longview Foundation for Education in World Affairs and International Understanding to learn through mutually-shared work how English teachers in Sri Lanka and the U.S. conceive of their teaching assumptions and practices. A group of 7 Sri Lankan educators joined 6 U.S. teachers in taking courses on PennGSE’s campus in Philadelphia in teaching English as a second language and global curriculum design. Then the group traveled to Sri Lanka to visit schools and teachers’ colleges to collaboratively explore cultural, historical, religious, and ethnic differences in teaching practices and beliefs. The group work will culminate in a symposium on internationalizing teacher education in May 2008.

Another grant, from the Freeman Foundation, supports the PennGSE secondary education master’s degree program faculty joining with faculty from Penn’s Center for East Asian Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilization department to develop a secondary teaching program in Mandarin Chinese Language and Culture. We will prepare certified teachers of Mandarin for teaching positions in schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the U.S. to guide American students’ understanding of Chinese culture and languages.