Creating Educational Reform: Educators from New York to New Mexico Meet in Berkeley

As we go to press, the final preparations are being made for a week-long Institute on educational reform, to be held in Berkeley, California, July 18-22. More than 300 educators are planning to attend. These educators represent 20 different metropolitan cities, ranging from New York City to Las Cruces, New Mexico. They come together to share their own experiences and expertise through discussion groups and "best practice" sessions, as well as to learn from nationally recognized researchers and practitioners who will be giving presentations about model programs and legislation. In addition, there will be action labs, where teams of teachers will write curricula reflecting a blend of academic and "hands-on" learning, learn how to create work-based learning strategies, and develop data-driven program improvement plans.

Who Is Sponsoring the 1995 Summer Institute?

The 1995 Institute is the first NCRVE has planned with the Hands and Minds Collaborative (HMC) of the Rindge School of Technical Arts and the Center for Law and Education. NCRVE has sponsored three earlier national institutes for the Urban Schools Network (in 1992 and 1993), and is building on the successes and lessons of those institutes. Anne Gawkins, Director of the Tech Prep Project at New York City Technical College, attended the 1992 Tech Prep Summer Institute and says it "provided immeasurable assistance to us as we struggled to launch our Tech Prep Project. The planning document that our team developed [at the Institute] provided a comprehensive framework for our initiative... We have now developed the largest tech prep program in New York State."

Dan Jewell, Associate Dean for Humanities from Volunteer State Community College, says, "the first Institute in July of 1992 has been the single most important factor in the growth of our consortium's program since its inception." He adds "Our participation in the Summer Institute ... led to our hosting a workshop for our consortium schools in September."

Empowering Teachers

Empowering teachers is one of the basic principles of the current educational reform movement. With this in mind, the Summer Institute has been designed so that attendees will be active participants. The four themes of the Institute are: Participants will have a choice of focus groups; break out sessions, "best practice" sessions (where educators can share with each other their own experience with "best practices"), and action labs. Highlights of the Summer Institute will be provided in the fall CenterWork.

Why an Urban Schools Network?

The problems facing urban schools are really tough: violence, drugs, high drop-out rates, and curricula students often find irrelevant. Yet exemplary schools do exist. Exemplary schools have lower dropout rates. They have a higher percentage of students learning skills useful to themselves and society. In exemplary schools, an increased number of students are linked to productive jobs, postsecondary education, or both.

One way to create an exemplary program is for academic and vocational teachers to work together, creating curricula and programs that cross traditional boundaries. Similarly, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers working hand-in-hand can create change throughout an entire educational system. This team approach is exemplified by NCRVE's Urban Schools Network, begun in 1992.

The members of the Urban Schools Network and the Hands and Minds Collaborative include academic and vocational educators, counselors, and administrators, all representatives of either high schools or postsecondary institutions. All have a common goal of educational reform, yet each brings an individual viewpoint and set of skills to the collaborative process. Collectively, they represent both diversity and continuity. Together they constitute an educator-owned movement for change.

For more information, contact Erika Nielsen-Andrew or Susan Faulkner at (800) (old phone deleted) or (510) 642-4004.

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