Northeastern Illinois University Team

Throughout the three-year term of the Collaborative Learning Centers Grant, a group of Northeastern Illinois University faculty members and facilitators from the Chicago Teachers' Center met on a monthly basis to support each others' efforts in the partner schools. This University Team had three major purposes:

• To support the efforts of the professional development teams in the partner schools to improve instruction,
• To support best practice, both in elementary and secondary classrooms, as well as college preservice classrooms,
• To foster the establishment of learning communities among faculty in the schools and universities, among students, between faculty and students, and across partner schools.

The University Team was comprised of faculty members from Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Secondary Education, Special Education, and Reading. Faculty members were invited to participate based on their interest in professional development and their expertise in the areas targeted by the partner schools. Meetings consisted of discussions of current professional literature in the areas of professional development and teacher education, sharing experiences in schools, and strategizing avenues to advance professional development.

Members of the University Team met with the professional development teams in the partner schools on a regular basis to help them learn instructional strategies to improve instruction in their classrooms and to facilitate their support of each other.

The University Team encouraged preservice teachers to request placements in the partner schools for their clinical experience and student teaching assignments. Team members worked closely with principals to place these preservice teachers with members of the professional development teams. This allowed the preservice teachers to participate in the professional development experiences with their cooperating teachers and faculty. Several of the preservice teachers who participated in the CLC professional development component have completed their undergraduate degrees and have been employed by the partner schools. Some of these teachers have subsequently begun their graduate programs and become cooperating teachers themselves.

In addition, several of the professional development team members who served as cooperating teachers have returned to graduate study and completed their graduate work at Northeastern. Two of these teachers have also taught undergraduate education courses at the university. Other professional development team members have co-taught undergraduate teacher education courses with University Team members. This cycle of learning truly depicts the goals of the Collaborative Learning Centers Program.

To foster best practice at the university level, the University Team has supported the professional development of faculty members. Throughout the project, CLC sponsored faculty attendance at conferences and seminars to enhance their own professional growth. Subsequently, these faculty members shared their learning experiences with the University Team and other faculty members to enhance the professional growth of the preservice teacher education faculty.

Drs. Ronald Saiet and Jo Ann Karr edit student teaching videos for portfolios. Drs. Elizabeth Landerholm and Jane Montes scan text for handouts.

Of special interest are the learning communities that have continued beyond the duration of the CLC funding period. For example, members of the original University Team have collaborated to write proposals with Chicago Public Schools and the State of Illinois for several other grants and team members are currently working together on a Goals 2000 grant in four Chicago Public High Schools, including Wells Community Academy High School, one of the CLC partner schools.Another example of this ongoing community of learning is a small group of faculty members who are meeting to learn more about performance-based assessment. These faculty members have developed their skills in the areas of videography and documentation as applied to performance-based assessment. They meet together and support each other in their efforts to ensure authenticity in the assessment procedures utilized in the teacher education program. Most of all, they support each other in their efforts to grow professionally.

Drs. Ron Saiet, Jo Ann Karr, Jane Montes, and Linda Zemtseff at a seminar led by Dr. Carmen Chapman in writing assessment

In addition, CLC has sponsored professional development opportunities for the faculty by bringing expert consultants to campus. These opportunities have resulted in ongoing changes in the teacher education program. Drs. Harvey Barrett and Jo Ann Karr were sponsored to attend a Midwest INTASC Conference to learn more about performance assessment. Dr. Ronald Saiet attended a seminar at Alvernia College to observe their implementation of performance assessment procedures. Margo Gottlieb and Carmen Chapman, from the Illinois Resource Center, presented the current trends in writing assessment as implemented by the State of Illinois.

Several members have become active participants in the Northeastern Illinois Assessment Consortium (NEIAC), an organization of colleges and universities interested in learning more about assessment procedures in teacher education. CLC sponsored a NEIAC conference featuring Dr. James E. Green, co-author, with Dr. Sheryl O. Smyser, of The Teacher Portfolio: A Strategy for Professional Development and Evaluation. Their model for developing a teacher portfolio has become the basis for the preservice teacher portfolios used by many of the faculty to help their preservice teachers develop portfolios during their field experiences.

This model for teacher portfolio development and the assessment procedures for writing evaluation have also been incorporated into the teacher education program. Both the Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education programs have adopted these techniques as part of their assessment procedure for applicants to their programs.