MEDIA RELEASE
Educators team up with first grade students to showcase effectiveness of higher education and K-12 partnerships.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jade Floyd, jfloyd@aacte.org, 202.478.4596 or 210.831.3885 or
Karen Arthur, karthur@bankstreet.edu, 212-961-3331
New York, N.Y. (February 26, 2007) Twenty first-graders at P.S. 156 Benjamin Banneker School, located in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx, along with executives from The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), leaders from Bank Street College of Education, and several New York elected officials will participate in a special showcase of “Partnerships for Quality” (P4Q) on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 from 10 to 11:15 a.m.
Guests will tour two P.S. 156 classrooms, meet with P4Q teachers, and read and interact with a group of first-grade students. They will also present their vision for the future of American public education and how Colleges of Education can ensure that every child is instructed by a high-quality teacher.
P4Q concludes AACTE’s 59th Annual Meeting & Exhibits occurring in New York City the week of February 24-27th. This event highlights the higher education and K-12 partnership between Bank Street and P.S. 156 Benjamin Banneker School. The majority of the students are from low-income families.
P4Q is a partnership between Bank Street College of Education and Region 9, one of the ten instructional districts of the New York City Department of Education. Region 9 is a hub of four schools. The P4Q partnership addresses the need to develop and retain good teachers in schools where well-intentioned but often unprepared teachers have created an endemic revolving door that has been detrimental to children, especially those in high-needs schools.
“By meeting the demands of both NCLB and the need to place well-prepared teachers into urban schools, K-12 partnerships are effective in the classroom because they reduce the lofty turnover rates in high-needs districts,” said Dr. Sharon Robinson, president and CEO of AACTE. “Bank Street’s Partnership for Quality with P.S. 156 should be replicated across the country with colleges of education and local school district to ensure that teachers leave the college classroom prepared for diverse learners,” she concluded.
“Bank Street College has maintained that the winning ingredients for successful education include desire, commitment, and a high-quality teacher training program that takes into account the child as an individual,” states Dr. Augusta Kappner, Bank Street College of Education. “The intensity of this program for high-needs schools allows for growth both for the student and teacher,” she adds.
Bank Street-educated teachers or interns with at least a year of graduate course work are placed in schools and receive supervision by the teaching program. Professional development courses at Bank Street and seasoned on-site mentors ensure the success of the program. Twenty-one of the project’s 23 participants in the first two years of the program are currently teaching in partner schools. Eighteen teachers will participate in the 2007-08 school year and 24 in 2008-09.
AACTE serves 41 institutions located in the State of New York with more than 15,000 teachers produced by our New York member institutions each year. AACTE seeks to promote the learning of all K-12 students through high-quality, evidence-based preparation and continuing education for all school personnel.
“Partnerships for Quality” will take place at P.S. 156 Benjamin Banneker School, 750 Concourse Village W. Bronx, N.Y. 10451.
For more information please contact Jade Floyd, AACTE communications manager, at jfloyd@aacte.org or 202-478-4596 or Karen Arthur, Bank Street Public Relations, at 212-961-3331 or karthur@bankstreet.edu. ;
About AACTE
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) is a national voluntary association of higher education institutions and other organizations and is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality preparation and continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders in order to enhance PK-12 student learning. The almost 800 institutions holding AACTE membership include private, state, and municipal colleges and universities large and small located in every state, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam. In addition, AACTE has a growing number of affiliate members, including state departments of education, community colleges, educational laboratories and centers, and foreign institutions and organizations. Collectively, the AACTE membership prepares more than two-thirds of the new teachers entering schools each year in the United States.
About Bank Street
The mission of Bank Street College is to improve the education of children and their teachers by applying to the educational process all available knowledge about learning and growth, and by connecting teaching and learning meaningfully to the outside world. In so doing, we seek to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which adults and children, in all their diversity, interact and learn. We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.
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MEDIA ADVISORY
AACTE AND BANK STREET SHOWCASE
“PARTNERSHIPS FOR QUALITY”
Educators team up with first grade students to showcase effectiveness of higher education and K-12 partnerships.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jade Floyd, jfloyd@aacte.org, 202.478.4596 or 210.831.3885 or
Karen Arthur, karthur@bankstreet.edu, 212-961-3331
WHO: Twenty first-graders and 5th grade student government students at P.S. 156 Benjamin Banneker School, along with leaders from The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Bank Street College of Education, and several New York officials.
WHAT: A tour and showcase of the Partnerships for Quality” (P4Q).program at PS 156. Guests will tour two classrooms, read to and interact with students, P4Q teachers, and Principal James Lee. Guests will address their vision for the future of American public education and how Colleges of Education can ensure that highly-qualified teachers are present in every school, regardless of community demographics.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 from 10 to 11:15 a.m.
WHY: P.S. 156 Benjamin Banneker School located in the South Bronx, N.Y. has made considerable gains with input from Bank Street’s P4Q program. The goal of the partnership program is to develop, recruit, and retain quality teachers in high-need New York City public schools. P.S. 156 is a Title I school located in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx. The vast majority of the students at P.S. 156 are from low-income families with more than 90% are eligible for free lunch. The P4Q event concludes AACTE’s 59th Annual Meeting & Exhibits occurring in New York City February 24-27th
PHOTO OPS AVAILABLE