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Advocates for teacher education reform are calling for university faculty to become more in tune with conditions in the schools. Linda Darling-Hammond (2006), for one, says that “the enterprise of teacher education must venture out further and further from the university and engage ever more closely with schools in a mutual transformation agenda, with all the struggles and messiness that implies” (302).
At the same time, through the reintroduction of the Success in the Middle Act (H.R. 3006 and S. 1362), the United States Congress is acknowledging the importance of improving middle-grades education through such strategies as providing “professional development and coaching to school leaders, teachers, and other school personnel in addressing the needs of diverse learners and in using challenging and relevant research-based best practices and curriculum” (National Middle School Association, 2010). Because “the level of academic achievement that students attain by eighth grade has a larger impact on the students' college and career readiness upon graduation from high school than anything that happens academically in high school” (Library of Congress, 2009), educators at all levels have a stake in the improvement of middle-grades education.
Now that national attention is shifting to this important transitional period in students' academic lives, Patricia Piver's community engagement project, described in this article, has particular relevance as a model for teacher educators who wish to engage more closely with the schools. But it also suggests how professors in all professional schools can keep their practitioner edges sharp and contribute to the world of practice even while they are functioning as college faculty. And in doing so, they can serve as models for how faculty can engage with the community.
Carol Osborne is an associate professor at Coastal Carolina University (CCU). She formerly taught in the MAT program and now chairs the Department of English, where she offers courses in contemporary literature. She came to CCU from the English department at Murray State University; for the twelve years prior to that, she taught in the Virginia Beach secondary schools.
Patricia Piver is the director of clinical experiences and student services in the Spadoni College of Education at Coastal Carolina University.
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