Lastinger Center Held First Gainesville Community Meeting of the Florida Teacher Fellows

On Wednesday, January 28th, the Lastinger Center for Learning brought together over 100 teachers from 5 Gainesville schools to participate in the first Gainesville Community Meeting of the Florida Teacher Fellows. This event was not only a recognition of the hard work and dedication of these educators, but an opportunity for them to expand their growing professional communities to network with other high poverty elementary schools in the county. This year marks the initiation of the Florida Teacher Fellows program, where 225 teachers throughout the state were awarded Teacher Fellowships. Fellows participate in monthly school meetings where a UF faculty facilitator assists them in focusing their collective strengths on addressing dilemmas of teaching and learning in high poverty schools. At each school teachers engage in inquiry into their own practices by looking at student work collaboratively, creating action plans to address student learning and refining those plans through collective reflection in critical friends groups, and investigating, exploring, and sharing research-based best practices with their peers.

This Community meeting was established to respond to teachers’ requests to share what they are learning more widely. They know they have a lot to learn with and from each other, both within and across schools. At this meeting, teachers from Duval, Rawlings, Williams, Prairie View, and PKYonge (a) participated in workshops run by 5 UF faculty members in order to get a taste of the resources and knowledge that UF’s COE has to offer, (b) participate in small cross-school groups organized by grade level to share important things they are learning at their schools through the teacher fellows program, and (c) reconvened in whole-school groups with their facilitators to discuss how what they’ve learned at this community meeting will impact their work at each school.

Dean Catherine Emihovich and Superintendent Chambers welcomed the teachers to this meeting. These dedicated educators and UF faculty facilitators began a collaborative effort and strengthen the connections between the College of Education and local schools. The hope is to leave “No Educator Behind” as we all work together to improve the education of Florida’s elementary school students.

Additional Information:

The Florida Teacher Fellowship (FTF) program is one of the initiatives of the Lastinger Center for Learning, a center dedicated to improving the education of Florida’s elementary school students. The FTF program focuses on teachers because we believe that improving the quality of teaching and learning has a direct impact on student achievement. (By the way, other initiatives focus on Principals, Families, and Communities). Teacher Fellows participate in monthly school meetings where a UF faculty facilitator assists them in focusing their collective strengths on addressing dilemmas of teaching and learning in high poverty schools. At each school teachers engage in inquiry into their own practices by looking at student work collaboratively, creating action plans to address student learning and refining those plans through collective reflection in critical friends groups, and investigating, exploring, and sharing research-based best practices with their peers. In addition to monthly school group meetings, the Fellows also participate in a 3-day residential summer institute at the University of Florida, where they learn about research-based best practices from UF faculty, meet with their school groups to identify challenges and needs for the coming year, and develop action plans for addressing their dilemmas. During the year, the Fellows will also have the opportunity to meet with Teacher Fellows from other schools to share their learning more widely, through several Community Meetings. These community meetings, the first of which will be held on January 28, 2004, are not only a recognition of the hard work and dedication of these educators, but an opportunity for them to expand their growing professional communities to network with other high poverty elementary schools in the county.

The FTF program, and these community meetings, are important because teachers typically work in isolation and have very little time or opportunity to collaborate with their peers, both within their school and across schools. As far as School-University-Community collaboration is concerned, although the relationship between the COE and schools is not new, the Lastinger Center does so on a much grander scale, allowing for cross-school, and even cross-district collaboration to occur. We are currently working with 5 Gainesville schools, 2 Miami schools, and 2 Jacksonville schools, with 6 more Miami schools due to join our center in 2004-2005. We know of no other school-university collaboration happening across the state to this extent that focuses on raising student achievement with an intense commitment to improving the quality and abilities of educators and principals. In addition, we focus our efforts on high poverty schools that are typically (but not always!) identified as low achieving and are frequently low on resources and assistance.

Teachers that have been awarded a teacher fellowship are paid $1,000 for their total participation in the program. However, financial resources are just one, and easily the most tangible, benefit. Teachers are connected to the University of Florida, with a wealth of resources, knowledge, and capability to help schools improve the education of their students. Faculty members from the COE provide teachers with information about research-based best practices and facilitate meetings to help teachers apply that knowledge and reflect on the implementation of new practices. Traditionally teachers attend workshops where that type of information may be presented, but it is the follow up and transfer to real classrooms that make a difference in our model. In addition, teachers are given voice to identify the professional development programs that are selected in order to address school-specific needs.

This project is an on-going relationship with teachers, schools, and principals. Change of this magnitude takes time, and although we would like to measure the impact of this program in immediate increases in student achievement, we expect that it is through continued support to these teachers and schools that substantial changes will occur. The Lastinger Center is a permanent endowment from Allen and Delores Lastinger, and additional outside funding from private donors is always welcomed to support the programs.

Currently our initiatives are focused on teachers (FTF), Principals (a parallel Principal Fellowship Program), and other staff members in whole-school effort. The next steps include work with parents and families. Efforts are coordinated with district initiatives, and work is only completed in areas where there is total buy-in, from the Superintendent down. The Lastinger Center also works with state-level education administration to ensure that the efforts complement, rather than contradict, state guidelines. The board members represent all of these levels.

For more Information contact:
Alyson Adams, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator
UF Lastinger Center for Learning
P.O. Box 117052, 111 Norman Hall
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 392-0726 x 295
adamsa@coe.ufl.edu