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From the Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, August 7, 2001. See
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0108070148aug07.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed
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New school to instruct pupils--and teachers
New city academy offers training to education interns
By Meg McSherry Breslin
When a new Chicago public school opens next month, the kids won't be
the only students. The teachers will be too.
On the site of the former Wright College on the city's Northwest
Side, the new academy will aim to create a model for training
teachers. The establishment of what is believed will be the first
public laboratory school in the country reflects a growing
dissatisfaction with the ability of universities to educate teachers
in a practical, real-world way.
The school, The Chicago Academy, is the brainchild of Chicago venture
capitalist Martin "Mike" Koldyke, who began his work with teachers in
1985 when he founded the Golden Apple Foundation to spotlight the
state's best teachers.
Koldyke has helped to gather what he considers some of the city's
best teachers for the academy. In a sense, the mentor teachers will
have two sets of students: the kids and a group of about 40 teacher
residents, recruited from inside and outside education
schools.Because two interns will be assigned to each class, the
school will boast an 8-1 student-to-teacher ratio.
Some educators around the nation consider the academy a bold model to
address a pressing issue in education: the training and retention of
teachers, especially in large urban school districts. Some refer to
it as a sort of training hospital, in which teachers will learn their
craft on the job over a 10-month period, as opposed to the 12-week
student teacher programs of many education schools.
"The uniqueness of this is that the training takes place at the
school because there's a growing awareness that colleges and
universities are limited for one main reason: They ask everyone to
come to them," said Betty Castor, president of the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards and a member of the academy's board.
"The problem is that student teaching is generally shorter in term.
Typically, you get, at best, half of a semester, and a lot of times
it's less than that," Castor said. "But with this, you lengthen and
transfer that whole process to the classroom."
Although some university laboratory schools employ a large number of
student teachers, the academy's approach is fresh because it is a
neighborhood public school whose key mission is teacher development,
Castor said.
The academy is to open at 3400 N. Austin Ave. on Sept. 4.
The racially mixed neighborhood of Portage Park and Belmont-Cragin is
attractive to Koldyke's team because it should allow teachers to get
their training in a typical public school environment, not in a
magnet school with a carefully selected group of students. The
academy will serve the many Polish, Hispanic and African-American
students who live nearby.
Spots filled quickly
Following two parent meetings held in the school this summer, the 308
available pupil spots filled quickly. In the first year, the school
will enroll pupils in prekindergarten through 4th grade. It later
plans to expand enrollment through the 8th grade.
Educator Susan Friel, who enrolled her son in the school, liked the
idea of enhancing teacher quality and developing future teacher
leaders at the same time.
"I'm game for this because I think the only way to deal with the
problem is to work at it from both ends," she said.
Top Chicago public school leaders also like the idea behind the
academy because it fits with efforts to combat a mounting teacher
shortage and relieve severe overcrowding in Northwest Side schools,
some of which have resorted to use of mobile classrooms.
Chicago Public Schools is to open a similar teacher training academy
in a South Side elementary school in fall 2002. But all that
academy's student teachers will come from traditional teacher
training schools. There also are plans for a teacher training academy
in a South Side public high school in 2003.
The Chicago Academy also may provide Chicago Public Schools with some
new governing models.
The academy is not a charter school but the city's first contract
school. The Chicago Board of Education has contracted with Koldyke to
operate the academy, but it requires that he follow the same rules
and regulations of its other schools. The major exception is that the
academy will be run by a board of professional educators and business
leaders, not by a local school council. That allows Koldyke and his
board to hire and supervise the principal and all other employees.
Koldyke plans to recruit some teachers from outside education,
including graduates from fields with strong leadership qualities.
That has some questioning whether it will truly be a model of teacher
quality.
"The research shows that teachers coming through alternative routes
tend to leave teaching sooner," said Chicago Teachers Union President
Deborah Lynch-Walsh. "Putting unprepared teachers into classrooms and
giving them mentoring support as they go along is not the way to go."
Yet Koldyke contends that good teachers can be found everywhere.
"The goal will be to find the best [interns] wherever they are,"
Koldyke said. "It's analogous to any outstanding private sector
entity--you go after the talent."
Schools chief backs concept
Chicago's new schools chief, Arne Duncan, also backs the concept--he
worked closely with Koldyke on the school proposal while he served as
a deputy under former schools chief Paul Vallas. He said if Koldyke's
school is a success, the city may look to contract with other parties
to run schools.
"This is an interesting model," Duncan said. "We're going to look to
be innovative and to try new ideas and experiment on a lot of
different levels. This is a model that I have a lot of interest in. I
want to watch it very closely to see how it plays out and see whether
it should be part of our overall strategy."
Although they are not directly connected to Koldyke's foundation,
some of the academy's teachers are past winners of Golden Apple
awards. Three others have been certified by the National Board for
Professional Teaching Standards, a Washington, D.C., group that
awards "master teacher" designations to those who pass a rigorous set
of standards.
Beverly Tunney, president of the Chicago Principals and
Administrators group and another member of the academy's board, said
one of the keys to the academy is its 10 months of resident training,
far longer than most student teaching experiences.
"I don't know how seriously universities take student teaching. But
in this case, the master teacher would be totally trained and devoted
and dedicated to working with brand-new teachers," she said. "That
really gives it a large leg up in terms of quality."
The teaching mentors will work longer hours, spending two hours each
school day to meet with their residents and discuss curriculum issues
and student concerns. As a result, they will receive a salary that is
20 percent above the usual teacher pay scale. The highest-paid
teacher this year will earn more than $66,000, said Principal Donald
Feinstein.
Despite the excitement of parents at a recent school meeting, there
was also awareness that the academy is an experiment.
"I want to see how it's going to play out," said parent Abby
Fernandez, who planned to enroll her kindergartner. "In the first
year, they have a lot to prove because I have a lot of expectations."
*************************************************
--
Jerry P.Becker
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901-4610 USA
Phone: (618) 453-4241 [O]
(618) 457-8903 [H]
Fax: (618) 453-4244
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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