(Page 1 of 4) - Deans United: Creating Local Synergy Between K-12 Urban Education and the Teacher Education Landscape authored by Thurman, Alfonzo., Bojar, Tia., Henk, William., Pugach, Marleen. and Anderson, Cristine.

Deans United: Creating Local Synergy Between

K-12 Urban Education and the Teacher Education Landscape

Section I: Content

A. Statement of the issue:

The challenges confronting urban school systems are indeed formidable, and accordingly,

the nearby SCDE’s (Schools, Colleges, and Departments of Education) that primarily scaffold
these systems -- through teaching, research and service -- experience an attendant share of
tribulations. Making genuinely systemic changes either to urban K-12 systems or to Education-
related academic units requires the collaborative effort of multiple entities and a host of
dedicated professionals and community volunteers (Zimpher & Howey, 2004). The proposed
session will explain how a group of urban Deans of Education have worked collaboratively
within a larger community partnership to influence the academic performance of a large city
school district, and equally important, added significant value to their own academic units. In
particular, the benefits that have accrued to the Deans and SCDE’s through their participation
will be detailed.

B. Literature review:

Interestingly, the professional literature indicates that Deans of Education have engaged

in many types of partnerships, but rarely quite like the local peer model outlined in this session.
Oftentimes, they connect with the leadership of a single school or school district, other academic
units within their institutions, a community organization or human service agency, a business or
industry, or a governmental office (Thiessen & Howey, 1998). Deans have been known to
partner with one another at the state (e.g., Indiana, Oregon) or international levels (e.g.,
Australia, Canada) or within American professional education organizations (e.g., ACAD,
CADREI, CGCCE). In these instances, they share or address common concerns, advocate
publicly on behalf of the profession, or attempt to impact governmental policy. Far less often do
Deans of Education formally connect with one another at local levels. Of course, local
partnerships are more feasible in metropolitan areas that have the population base to sustain
multiple SCDE’s. However, even when those partnerships are possible, the requisite structure
may not exist or the perception of institutional competition deters Deans from engaging in them.

The city of Milwaukee enjoys a system-to-system partnership that pulls together

numerous local shareholders to assist its large urban school district in increasing the reading,
writing, and mathematics achievement of children in the system, many of whom are at-risk for
school failure. This coalition, known as the Milwaukee Partnership Academy (MPA), brings
together local institutions of higher education (IHE’s), the school board, the teacher’s union,
business leaders, community partners (i.e., the public library, zoo, and museum, as well as the
YMCA), the local foundation/donor community, the mayor’s office, and the state superintendent
of education to affect systemic change in the Milwaukee Public School District (Authors, 2006).
The work of the MPA is conducted by an Executive Director, working under the direction of
Executive Partners from 10 core organizations. Details of MPA initiatives are decided by an
Implementation Team, which includes representatives from participating organizations, and the
work is carried out by Work Groups consisting of volunteers from various partner organizations.

One of the key constituent groups within the MPA is the Metropolitan Milwaukee Area

Deans of Higher Education or MMADE. The group consists of all of the local Education Deans