Program Helps K-12 Educators Solve Complex Classroom Issues

The National Center for School-University Partnerships, housed in the university's School of Education,  recently hosted a two-day East Coast Improvement in Education Summit, bringing together more than 300 K-12 teachers, college-level faculty and administrators from around the world.

"This year's summit was an amazing opportunity to collaborate, share and learn about successful improvement practices happening across the country," said David Rock, the school's dean and NCSUP founder. "Through working together, we can improve student outcomes and tackle complex issues in the field of education, such as the critical teacher shortage."

Mary Bramlett, an Ole Miss academic counselor and NCSUP program manager, helped plan the "Where Partnerships Drive Progress, Applying Improvement Science Together" summit, which ran Nov. 6-7 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

The NCSUP was created to ensure ongoing collaboration between K-12 school districts and universities.

Tim Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, said the foundation's confidence in the dean's vision and leadership was the driving force behind its investment.

"The University of Mississippi School of Education is a pathfinder, bringing together scholars, practitioners and policy makers in essential ways, to improve public school systems nationwide," Knowles said.

"Further, its National Center for School-University Partnerships gathers leading practitioners and scholars to develop, test and scale scientifically based methods for improving public education. We hope the summit can become an important 'public square' for this work and, in so doing, forge new partnerships, build knowledge and address the major educational challenges of our time." 

Improvement science equips educators with tools to solve complex problems in the classroom. At the summit, attendees learned innovative methods to integrate improvement science into existing coursework.

"If educators can learn problem-solving skills early on, teachers are more likely to remain in the field of K-12 education beyond five years," Bramlett said.

The foundation's support enabled the summit planning team to secure a venue that was convenient for attendees and cover costs associated with promoting the event, Bramlett said.

"The Carnegie investment allowed us the flexibility to be able to focus on the content that we were teaching and gave us the opportunity to make sure that we were providing meaningful content to our attendees – really concentrating on what our mission is, which is improving student outcomes," Bramlett said.

"By not having to worry about the financial constraints as much, we were able to prioritize what we could do to make the summit a good experience for our attendees and ensure they came away with the most knowledge available to improve the students that they're serving."

Besides providing opportunities for summit attendees to connect and collaborate with other organizations experiencing the challenge of teacher shortages, the NCSUP brings together school districts and universities throughout the year to address problems of practice.

"For example, over the past year, we've addressed chronic absenteeism and improving special education math proficiency in the state of Mississippi," said Bramlett, who facilitated the meetings alongside Rock. "For our Mississippi partners, that's been really significant and beneficial."

Knowles said he is eager to see the NCSUP's work continue to benefit educators for years to come.

"We hope our investment in the University of Mississippi will lead to richer, stronger, impact-focused partnerships between the academy and school systems and, in so doing, establish a model for other universities dedicated to strengthening the nation's economy, democracy and social fabric," he said.

For more information about the NCSUP, contact Bramlett at 662-915-5986 or mgbram@olemiss.edu.

To make a gift in support of the UM School of Education, including the NCSUP and/or a future East Coast Improvement in Education Summit, contact Kelly Smith Marion, director of development, at 662-915-2007 or ksmith13@olemiss.edu.

Top: Bradley Roberson, superintendent of the Oxford School District, discusses improvements the district is conducting in the city's schools at the 'Where Partnerships Drive Progress, Applying Improvement Science Together' summit in Nashville. The UM summit was supported by a gift from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Submitted photo