Thinking Outside the Box with University and Non-Profit Partnerships: Aligning Graduate Assignments with Service Learning Experiences for Teacher Candidates

Teacher preparation programs have long recognized the importance of practice-based learning opportunities for teacher candidates. The rising call for teacher accountability and fidelity of practice also continues to strengthen this need; and a movement for more clinical-practice oriented preparation continues in the field of Education (NCATE, 2010). In addition, teacher preparation programs must also prepare teacher candidates to be culturally responsive practitioners capable of understanding and effectively teaching in more culturally diverse schools (Miller, 2014); and there is a significant need to adequately prepare teachers for urban districts where there are teacher shortages and high teacher turnover rates. In response to this and other issues, many teacher preparation programs have recognized the benefits of service learning in preparing students to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds (Hildenbrand & Schultz, 2015). Much of this work has highlighted service-learning experiences that have been part of foundations courses and/or other activities such as alternative spring break trips (Anderson & Erickson 2003; Boyle-Baise& Langford 2004; Tinkler, Hannah, Shepherd Tinkler, Miller, Noyes 2015) This presentation will highlight a partnership between the Department of Special Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and Youth Life Foundation of Richmond (YLFR), a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop leaders by making long-term investments in children from at-risk communities. YLFR operates several learning centers in at-risk communities and focuses on supporting students academically, developing their character, raising expectations, and investing in their lives through committed mentoring relationships (Youth Life Foundation of Richmond, 2015). As part of their graduate course work, teacher candidates complete graduate course assignments at YLFR with students in the after-school program. This partnership expands research in the area of service learning and includes this type of experience as part of special education core content courses focused on Instructional Methods and Educational Assessments. By expanding collaboration between the university and this non-profit agency, teacher candidates have opportunities to practice implementing evidence-based teaching methods while civically engaging in the mission of this non-profit to directly impact the community. The highlighted partnership also provides needed opportunities for teacher candidates to have isolated practice in implementing reading interventions; an opportunity they might not have during their student teaching. In addition, it provides students at YLFR with sustained evidence-based reading interventions to improve literacy performance. The focus of this presentation will be on the goals, implementation, and sustainability of the partnership, the written reflections from teacher candidates’ on their experiences and the quality of their graduate work, and student progress in reading