Milestones Achieved in Second Year of Steinhardt, DOE, and CUNY Partnership
By Timothy Farrell
Funded by a $15 million grant from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, the Partnership for Teacher Excellence (PTE) started in 2006 as a unique collaboration among the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the City University of New York (CUNY) and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) to address the need for quality teachers in high-needs public schools throughout the city. Steinhardt targets and recruits qualified candidates for Petrie scholarships, which provide funding for master’s programs in teacher education. The scholars are obligated to teach in a high-needs school in New York City for two years.
Last September, the partnership reached an important milestone: 27 Petrie Scholars from Steinhardt accepted positions at schools across the city and began their professional careers as educators. More important than the numbers of new teachers, says Joseph McDonald, professor in Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching and Learning, are the lasting changes the partnership is making towards teacher preparation and retention.
“The prime goal of the partnership is to provide mutual benefit for both the students who attend New York schools and the NYU students who work with them,” says McDonald, who coordinates the effort. “The public school students gain from having more adults supporting their learning and development. The NYU students gain by learning to practice in a richer and more inter-professional community.”
The central hallmark of the partnership is the collection of host schools that partner with both NYU and CUNY. Currently, NYU has formal arrangements with 19 middle and high schools in high-needs areas, such as the South Bronx and East Harlem. Host schools serve as teaching laboratories for the Petrie Scholars, with some graduate education courses taking place on site. The schools themselves benefit from the expertise of NYU faculty, who offer various programs designed to enhance professional development.
Rosa Pietanza, a former high school principal who is now a senior associate and coordinator of partnership schools in Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching and Learning, credits the PTE with “connecting the dots” among the various stakeholders.
“The partnership has done an excellent job of improving the way aspiring teachers are prepared, giving them the best opportunity to be successful and effective in urban public schools,” says Steinhardt School Dean Mary Brabeck. “The teachers are then more inclined to remain in the field of education.”
The past year has been a complex one for many of NYU’s host schools, which are adjusting to massive changes in accountability and support systems. In 2007, the DOE began issuing progress report grades to individual schools, with penalties for those schools that do not demonstrate improvement. NYU host school coordinators work closely with the schools to help them develop thoughtful plans for using partnership funding to the best advantage.
A priority of the partnership has been to engage NYU faculty (including Arts and Science faculty) and host school staff in a variety of curriculum projects funded by the Petrie grant. Projects include work on literacy, assessment, diverse learners, mathematics and science and other important topics. In addition, Steinhardt faculty members have co-taught graduate education classes with DOE teachers, who serve as part-time adjunct faculty members. Co-teaching helps further the connection between theory and practice, says McDonald.
The partnership further complements NYU’s long-standing involvement with NYC public schools. More than 800 NYU students annually serve as classroom literacy and math tutors through America Reads/America Counts. Five hundred students annually participate in Steinhardt’s Learning Partners program, a pre-student teaching internship. An additional 500 Steinhardt students intern in public schools in nutrition, counseling, speech therapy, and creative arts therapies, and as tutors and mentors at the University Neighborhood High School, which was created in 1999 by Steinhart faculty in collaboration with the DOE.
