Effective Partnering for School Change: Improving Early Childhood Education in Urban Classrooms

This volume explores the challenges and promise of university–school partnerships as a vehicle for improving our public schools. Reporting on the experience of Erikson Institute’s Schools Project―an 11-year initiative involving nine public elementary schools in low-income Chicago neighborhoods―the authors describe a variety of school-based interventions and provide valuable lessons for building effective university–school partnerships. Speaking to today’s important issues, this book:

• Covers a range of topics in early childhood education (pre-K–Grade 3), including high-stakes standardized testing, a child-centered curriculum, the social-emotional development of children, behavioral management, and the effective uses of technology.
• Emphasizes the quality and nature of the partner relationship as the critical factor in the process of achieving school change.
• Incorporates the voices and opinions of both sides of the partnership, revealing the varied issues and competing agendas that shape these collaborations.
• Summarizes the major lessons learned, offering experience-based guidance on building and sustaining a university-school partnership that can serve as a foundation for improved teaching and learning, especially with young urban children.

Jie-Qi Chen is an associate professor of child development and early education at Erikson Institute. Patricia Horsch is the director of a primary school partnership between Erikson Institute and the Chicago Public Schools and an adjunct professor of education at Erikson. Karen DeMoss is an assistant professor in the educational leadership program at the University of New Mexico. Suzanne L. Wagner is a research associate at Project Match in Chicago.