Belinda Bustos Flores, Professor & Principal Investigator Lorena Claeys, Executive Director

1. From Learning Communities to Communities of Practices: Recruiting, Preparing and Retaining Latino Teachers Belinda Bustos Flores, Professor & Principal Investigator Lorena Claeys, Executive Director Academy for Teacher Excellence The University of Texas at San Antonio

2. Purpose To provide an overview of ATE’s five interrelated research-based components: • Teacher Academy Learning Community (TALC) • Teacher Academy Induction eCommunity of Practice (TAICP) • Faculty Development Community of Practice • Faculty Interdisciplinary Research Community • Community and School Partnerships

3. Learning Outcomes: Participants will • engage in critical reflection and dialogue. • acquire research-based and test-proven recruitment, preparation, and retention strategies. • create a logic model that can be implemented in their particular settings.

4. Creating a Logic Model • Why? • To assist you in the planning process • To engage in a Theory of Change • To ensure that your thinking results in action (Reflexive Action) • To provide a framework for seeking external funding • To guide you in the integration, planning, implementing, evaluating, and reporting

5. Logic Model:SimpleView INPUTS OUTPUTS OUTCOMES Activities Participation Short Medium Long-term Program investments What we invest What we do Who we reach What results SO WHAT?? What is the VALUE? UWExtension University of Wisconsin Extension, Program Development and Evaluation

6. Logic model in evaluation What do you want to know? How will you know it? EVALUATION: check and verify UWExtension University of Wisconsin Extension, Program Development and Evaluation

7. What does a logic model look like? • Graphic display of boxes and arrows; vertical or horizontal • Relationships, linkages • Any shape possible • Circular, dynamic • Cultural adaptations; storyboards • Level of detail • Simple • Complex • Multiple models • Multi-level programs • Multi-component programs UWExtension University of Wisconsin Extension, Program Development and Evaluation

8. ATE’s Theory of Change

9. Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE) ATE has established a research-based model for the preparation of culturally efficacious teachers and mentors utilizing an interdisciplinary community of practice model.

10. Through an interdisciplinary community of practice ATE’s Goals include: • Recruit, prepare, and retain teachers in critical teaching areas.1 • Prepare teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students.1 • Cultivate teachers, mentors, and faculty’s expertise to become culturally efficacious. • Engage individuals in critical dialogue and reflexive action.2

12. Teacher Academy Learning Community (TALC) • TALC focuses on teacher candidates’ culturally efficacious development. • Nearly 2,000 first-generation, mostly Latino candidates, have participated and benefitted from TALC. • As compared to non-participating peers, TALC participants outperformed academically and were more engaged in extracurricular activities. Flores, B. B., Claeys, L. & Wallis, D. (2006)

14. 21st Century Global Learners:Core Competencies Adapted from Wagner, T. (2008). Global Achievement Gap

16. TALC has been… “TALC is great! It has helped me in many ways. I can name the lending textbooks, iPads, professional development, and the student teaching scholarship… ”

17. Pair & Share Inputs: Reflect on your situation about creating or enhancing a Learning Community with you current resources. Outputs: Consider possible activities and who are recipients of activities. Outcomes: Consider short term, medium term, and ultimate impact. • Share with your group. • Enter this information into your logic model.

18. Teacher Academy Induction eCommunity of Practice (TAICP)

19. Teacher Academy Induction eCommunity of Practice (TAICP) • ATE strategically designed TAICP to support candidates commencing in the senior year of college. • With on-site guidance and coaching, the complexities of teaching and learning are addressed. Hence, novices reach their full potential—by staying in the profession and improving learning for all students. Flores, Hernández, García, & Claeys, (2011)

20. Initial Apprenticeship Period: Conflicting Dilemmas “I have tried to make suggestions to enhancing the lessons with technology and music. I told her what I plan on doing for the lessons I plan to teach. She comments that they are good ideas and usually points to the children’s unruliness as being the reason she does not do those types of activities.” MiddleLevel Mathematics Student Teacher

21. Initial Apprenticeship Period: Building Trust “I have to be so careful with what I say on campus, everybody knows everything; nothing is secret. Even with my (campus) mentor, I need to be really careful in what I say and how so that she doesn’t think I don’t know what I’m doing. Si no pudiera hablar contigo de lo que pasa aquí, no podría hablar con nadie. (If I could not speak with you [induction mentor] about what happens here, I could not talk with anyone.)” First year Bilingual Novice Teacher

22. Initial Apprenticeship Period: Coaching Support “My principal is coming in next week to observe me; she wants to see reading groups. I’ve attached my lesson plan for the morning. What do you think? I’m worried I’m missing something. Can you come in on Tuesday and just observe how centers go?” First-yearBilingual Teacher

23. Proactive Mentoring & Coaching: Conferencing “They(mentors) were there to offer strategies. S(mentor) would come ask me…are you ready for next week? Lesson planning was a big struggle for me, just finding the time and that’s where S would come in and say, don’t worry, here’s an idea, relax, take a deep breath. I would say lesson planning, classroom management, and just trying to stay above water, trying to breathe.” Third year Science Novice Teacher

24. Pair & Share Inputs: Reflect on your situation about creating or enhancing a ICofP with your current resources. Outputs: Consider possible activities and who are recipients of activities. Outcomes: Consider short term, medium term, and ultimate impact. • Share with your group. • Enter this information into your logic model.

25. Faculty Development Community of Practice Strategies included in the Critical Model for Faculty Development in Teacher Education: • Developing awareness and identity as faculty sensitive to their and others linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds; • Incorporating guiding principles for undergraduate education and universal design • Creating an interdisciplinary teacher curriculum that addresses diversity issues; • Increasing knowledge and skills in technology, emphasizing mobile devices for the 21st century. (Reybold, Flores, & Riojas-Cortez, 2006;Chickering& Gamson, 2004;King-Sears, 2009)

26. Reybold, E., Flores, B. B., & Riojas-Cortez, M. (2006)

27. Pair & Share Inputs: Reflect on your situation about creating or enhancing Faculty Development with your current resources. Outputs: Consider possible activities and who are recipients of activities. Outcomes: Consider short term, medium term, and ultimate impact. • Share with your group. • Enter this information into your logic model.

28. Faculty Interdisciplinary Research Community

29. Faculty Interdisciplinary Research Community • 47 ATE Research Awards have been granted to faculty members • 6 Fellowships awarded to doctoral students • Numerous Research Assistantships • 5 Symposiums held to highlight faculty research

30. Faculty Interdisciplinary Research Community Peer-review Studies include: • Innovative demonstration projects • Continuous dissemination, refinement, and scaling-up of best practices • Efficacious preparation of teachers for CLD students • Equitable teacher representation,representation, retention, and quality • Effective P-20 collaboration and partnerships

31. Pair & Share Inputs: Reflect on your situation about creating or enhancing Faculty Development with your current resources. Outputs: Consider possible activities and who are recipients of activities. Outcomes: Consider short term, medium term, and ultimate impact. • Share with your group. • Enter this information into your logic model.

32. Community and School Partnerships

33. Community and School Partnerships • Enlace (Connecting across university community) • Public School Districts • Public Charter Schools • Community Colleges • San Antonio Mathematics & Science Education Coalition (SAMSEC) • Making Connections ~ San Antonio

34. Informal Learning Opportunities: Pre-Columbian Mathematics

35. Informal Learning Opportunities: La Clase Mágica

36. ATE Tutoring Center (Katrina & Rita) Undergraduate and graduate student volunteers spent over 600 hours tutoring and working with K-12 school age children displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

37. Innovative Communities of Learning Advancing Student Success

38. Pair & Share Inputs: Reflect on your situation about creating or enhancing Community and School Partnerships Outputs: Consider possible activities and who are recipients of activities. Outcomes: Consider short term, medium term, and ultimate impact. • Share with your group. • Enter this information into your logic model.

39. Summary • ATE takes a comprehensive approach preparing culturally efficacious teachers. • Through a community of learners approach, faculty and students alike are acquiring new ways of thinking and being.

40. What have you learned?

41. References • Chickering, A. W., & Gamson, Z. F. (2004). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. Retrieved April 21, 2005, from http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/activity/news1001.htm • CREATE (2011). PACE 2010: Performance Analysis System for Colleges of Education (PACE) for the University of Texas at San Antonio (2009-2010). Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment of Teacher Education, Houston, Texas. • Flores, B. B., & Claeys, L. (2010/2011). Academy for Teacher Excellence: Maximizing synergy among partners for promoting college access for Latino teacher candidates. The Urban Review,43(3), 321-338. DOI:10.1007/s11256-010-0153 • Flores, B. B., Claeys, L. & Wallis, D. (2006). Academy for Teacher Excellence: Extending the dialogue in university and community college partnerships. Journal of Learning Communities Research, 1(1), 29-51. • Flores, B. B., Clark, E. R., Claeys, L., & Villarreal, A. (2007). Academy for Teacher Excellence: Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining Latino Teachers though Learning Communities. Teacher Education Quarterly, 34(4), 53-69. • Flores, B. B., Hernández, A., García, C. T., & Claeys, L. (2011). Teacher Academy Learning Community’s induction support: Guiding teachers through their zone of professional development. Journal of Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19(3), 365-389. DOI: 10.1080/13611267.2011.597124 • Flores, B. B.,Keehn, S., Martinez, M., & Riojas-Cortez, M. (2011). Impact of a program wide diversity initiative on teacher candidates’ cultural efficacy. Critical Issues in Teacher Education, 18(1),15-29. • Guerra, N. S. (2006). The LIBRE problem-solving model: A practical approach to problem-solving and decision-making for teachers and teacher educators. Texas Teacher Educator's Forum, 29, Spring, 9-14. • King-Sears, M. (2009). Universal Design for Learning: Technology and Pedagogy. Learning Disability Quarterly, 32(4), 199-201. • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning legitimate peripheralparticipation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. • My Worrior Kids. KWL Chart. Retrieved from http://mywarriorkids.com/2012/02/21/kwl-chart/ • Reybold, E., Flores, B. B., & Riojas-Cortez, M. (2006) Dueling Epistemologies: Implementing a Critical Model of Faculty Ethics in Teacher Preparation. The Professional Educator, (29)2, 1-11. • Sleeter, C. (2008). An invitation to support diverse students through teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(3), 212-219. • Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college. Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. • Villegas, A., & Irvine, J. J. (2010). Diversifying the teaching force: An examination of major arguments. The Urban Review, 42(3), 175-192. DOI 10.1007/s11256-010-0150-1