Down-home partnership

NEA Today, Oct 1998

Innovator

Nancy Zimpher

Job:

President of the Holmes Partnership. Chancellor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Bright Idea:

"Any contemporary college of education committed to teacher development and school renewal is one that defines itself as in partnership with local school professionals," says Zimpher.

"That's a novel interpretation of what an ed school is," she notes, "because it says this important work must be done as a partnership"-of outstanding teachers, administrators, academics, parents, community leaders, and social agencies.

The Holmes Partnership is a consortium that pulls these forces together. Seven national organizations, including NEA, and 75 school-university partnerships work on projects in which "theory becomes practical and practice is understood as theoretical," says Zimpher.

Pre-service and in-service programs, burgeoning school-university partnerships, and policy analysis dominate the project list.

Incorporated in all is the "critical role of the expert teacher," says Zimpher, "classroom practitioners who can serve as "architects of the curriculum."

This fall, the Holmes Partnership will launch the United Network to Improve Teacher Education to search out effective teaching strategies that serve urban students.

"Its mission is riveted on creating a culturally sensitive curriculum for the initial preparation of teachers," says Zimpher, "and recruiting a more diverse cohort into teaching."

One key to "attracting a more diverse population of prospective teachers is to see a more diverse population of professors," says Zimpher.

The Holmes Scholar program strives for just that. Students-usually minorities-recruited to a doctoral program are nurtured to degree completion and encour- aged to become professors.

Impact:

Both teachers and university personnel have been inspired by the new collaborative approach to teacher development. A database is tracking the long-term effects on learning.

For More:

Contact Chuck Williams at NEA Headquarters, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036, 202/8227703. E-mail: CHWilliams@nea.org.