The
Talawanda/Miami Partnership encourages collaborative
programming between the school district and the university
that benefits students in both institutions. Founded in
2001, the Partnership seeks to enhance existing cooperative
efforts, as well as connect potential partners’ work
together with an ultimate goal of increased student
achievement.
Hundreds
of Miami students serve in a variety of capacities each
year. Volunteers log thousands of hours in all five
district buildings through programs such as
Adopt-a-School
and
America
Reads.
District personnel assess needs, place tutors, and monitor
the progress. Pre-service teachers are regularly assigned
to Talawanda Schools and co-teach in classrooms with our
veteran educators.
A Partnership Committee, consisting of faculty, staff, and
administration from both Talawanda and Miami, meets monthly
in order to discuss ongoing efforts and explore new
collaboratives. Their roles include serving as ambassadors
for the Partnership, facilitating communication, and
publicizing the work of the Partnership in their respective
settings. The Committee also considers small grant
applications from both settings that once awarded, will
support participants.
Improving teaching practice has been a focus of the
Partnership since its inception. Professional development
for teachers in all curricular areas continues to be
offered both within the district and hosted on
Miami’s campus. Grant funding in excess of $700,000
made possible a large-scale math project that involved
district program-specific training for math educators.
The Talawanda/Miami Partnership is a member of the
National
Network of Educational Renewal, an
organization of school/university partnerships throughout
the country that seeks to expand and improve educational
collaboratives through P-16 simultaneous
renewal.
A
semi-annual newsletter that chronicles the activities of
the Partnership can be accessed at the following
website:
www.muohio.edu/partnerships
Please
contact Dr. Jean Eagle, Principal, Bogan Elementary School
and Director of Partnerships at
eaglej@talawanda.org for
further information.