Element 3A: Collaboration between Unit and School Partners
Collaboration between the unit and school partners begins when candidates are placed in Pre K-12 schools for their fieldwork assignments. The Office of School and Community Partnerships (OSCP) works directly with program directors and school personnel to ensure that placements meet program needs, the needs of candidates, and the needs of Pre K-12 schools and settings where candidates are being placed. In addition the OSCP keeps a record of each candidate's placement to ensure the candidates experience a diversity of settings. The OSCP works in collaboration with program directors to ensure teacher candidates have at least one diverse setting in their fieldwork or clinical practice. 

The unit's faculty has become more mindful of three key aspects of the teacher candidates' synthesis and reflection on their knowledge, skills, and dispositions:

1. While it is common practice to monitor candidates in terms of academic and/or professional progress for purposes of creating barriers to continuing in a given program, a policy and institutional mindset has evolved that is predicated on retention and development, particularly for those candidates with real potential to become successful teachers. The goal would be for candidates to receive the proper attention and support prior to student teaching and in their field work experience. The introduction of faculty liaisons in the methods courses is to provide that kind of support.
2. The development of the Adelphi Clinical Practice Model is a recognition of the need to provide our candidates with a complete and comprehensive clinical experience, one in which the lines between theory and practice are virtually seamless. The unit's faculty is interested in finding as many ways as are feasible to have candidates work in school in progressive ways and in diverse settings. These experiences coupled with a process for reflective practice are essential.
3. The unit's programs have adopted the portfolio as an important vehicle of the reflective practice. It is through this process, at least in part that candidates have an opportunity to explore their knowledge, skills and dispositions. 

The candidates' fieldwork experiences consist of a participant-observation phase, completed by the end of the Synthesis transition point of the programs. In most programs, this consists of a minimum of 100 hours of fieldwork. Most of the fieldwork experiences are integrated into the methods courses and are progressive in nature, ranging from participant observation to one on one tutoring or small group instruction. The English Education candidates are expected to complete a service learning experience as well. The faculty members of these methods courses assign benchmark projects that involve writing unit plans and lesson plans. Teacher candidates are encouraged to participate as much as possible in their mentor teachers' classrooms. After consultation with the supervisor, teacher mentor, and university faculty, candidates implement their lesson plans when deemed appropriate. Several of the programs have begun to use course liaisons to ensure that these interactions are meaningful ways to tie schools to universities and theory to practice.

The fieldwork experience prepares teacher candidates for the student teaching experience. In every teacher preparation program, during the student teaching semester, the teacher candidates spend five days per week (240 hours) as a student teacher in each of two eight-week placements. Ideally, at the conclusion of the student teaching experience, the teacher candidate has full responsibility for units of instruction and has had teaching experiences for large blocks of time each day. Candidates are expected to "do the work of the teacher," including those responsibilities that are outside the classroom instruction, such as participating in professional development and attending meetings.

All sites receive written confirmation of the placement of candidates within their schools, along with a brief description of expectations for their fieldwork (Exhibit S3-4). University supervisors are also asked to fill out a questionnaire  each semester evaluating the school site in which our teacher candidates are being placed. Teacher candidates have the opportunity to evaluate the course, the site, and the field supervisor at the end of the semester.  These evaluation forms and sample responses are offered as Exhibit S2-18.

Each teacher candidate has a field supervisor from Adelphi University who serves as the liaison between the field site and the university. The field supervisor visits each candidate at least twice during each placement and formally observes the candidate as s/he teaches a lesson, using the adapted Pathwise rubric and Danielson lesson plan outline.  The teacher mentor also formally observes the teacher candidate twice during a placement using the same rubric and lesson plan outline. The field supervisor maintains contact with the teacher mentor throughout the placement by telephone or email, as necessary. Each mentor teacher and the field supervisor completes a summative form rating the teacher candidate based on the Pathwise rubric. The final evaluations for the teacher candidate are based on the ratings on these forms which were revised in 2005 based on input from our field supervisors, school administrators, and our teacher mentors to make the rubric more relevant to teacher candidates (versus teachers already in the field). The teacher candidate also attends a weekly seminar with the Adelphi University field supervisor.  Field supervisors are encouraged to hold these seminars at the school sites and, as of this writing, one-third of the seminars are held at the site.

The teacher mentor/university handbook (Exhibit S3-5) outlines the responsibilities of both the teacher mentor and the field supervisor and serves as a guide for the teacher mentor in terms of the teacher candidate's responsibilities and expectations at the school site. Teacher mentors are also asked to fill out an evaluation form at the end of the student teaching experience which asks them to evaluate the revised Pathwise rubric, observation and summative form and to give feedback about the program. Based on feedback concerning "best practices" from teacher mentors and university supervisors, the handbook and assessments are regularly reviewed and modified to meet the changing needs of the teacher candidates.

Candidates keep a journal of their weekly student teaching experiences and share this journal with their field supervisors each week. In addition, teacher candidates augment the portfolios developed during their studies with weekly reflections of their teaching and learning during field and clinical experiences.  Teacher mentors and field supervisors help to develop the components and questions addressed within the portfolio.  Teacher mentors are invited to a meeting at the beginning of the school year for input and suggestions to support teacher candidates; another meeting is held in the spring semester for additional feedback about the field/clinical programs.

One-third of the teacher candidates are part of the Adelphi Model Teacher Candidate Program (formerly known as the Pilot Model). The teacher candidates who register for this experience are required to spend a minimum of 100 hours in the fall semester working with 2 mentor teachers, each for 50 hours. The teacher candidates are assigned a field supervisor from Adelphi University who meets with them each week at their school site during the fall semester.  During the spring semester, teacher candidates take on progressively greater classroom responsibilities as student teachers. They continue to work with the same mentors in two eight-week assignments and to meet in their seminars each week with their university based field supervisors.

During 2005-2006, the number of Model sites grew from eight to 11 (listed in Table 3-3), eight of which are considered diverse (based on demographic data and the following:  less than 50 percent of student population identified as White, greater than 15 percent English Language Learners, and greater than 10 percent free or reduced lunch.

In part, this increase was the result of the faculty's formal review of its commitment to the Conceptual Framework in its field experiences—particularly issues of social justice and inclusion.  During a retreat in Fall 2005, the curriculum and field components of the programs were reviewed within the larger framework of addressing student diversity in the schools.  While the faculty through its Office of School and Community Partnerships has actively sought out meaningful relationships with partner school districts and schools that are diverse--such as Roosevelt, Rockaway, and Queens High School for Teaching--it was clear during 2005-2006 that this initiative should be extended and deepened.

The Adelphi Model sites share the faculty's commitment to inclusion and differentiated instruction. Each candidate is placed in at least one diverse site for their field observation/student teaching experience. Candidates are expected to observe and student teach in inclusive classes that support students of diverse academic ability.

The Program Director and Fieldwork Director of the Office of School and Community Partnerships and an Adelphi University  clinical adjunct working within the Model program, joined with a North Bellmore School District teacher mentor, a former Adelphi University candidate and participant in the Model program, and the North Bellmore School District Coordinator of Mentoring to present a panel discussion entitled "Professional Development Schools: A Collaboration" at the 2006 Summer Institute of New York State Teacher Centers.  The panel described Adelphi University's collaborative teacher preparation model and its unique features in promoting professional development and has been asked to give this presentation to other directors and policy board members within New York State Teacher Centers at future professional conferences.

Documented visits from the School and Community Partnership office with partner school sites demonstrate the viability of the field-based partnerships, provided as Exhibit S3-6. School partners embrace the teacher candidates as part of their faculty and invite them to their faculty meetings and include their names on their school faculty rosters. In addition, clinical adjuncts work closely with the teachers and administrators to provide professional development for our candidates and for the faculty.  A number of the administrators from the school partners teach courses for teacher candidates at the Adelphi campus or their own school sites. Some teacher mentors facilitate workshops on such topics as classroom management and inclusion. The teacher candidates who participate in this program are interviewed at the university by our clinical faculty, as well as at the school sites by the clinical faculty and school administrator before they are selected.

Field supervisors share Adelphi's Conceptual Framework and the Danielson model (including the Pathwise rubric) that is the basis of the assessment system for field candidates with the school partners at the start of the school semester. All teacher mentors receive a copy of the Pathwise rubric.  Several school administrators have decided to use this as tool for their own teaching staff. The Conceptual Framework is shared with teacher mentors at the Teacher Mentor/Supervisor Adelphi Model orientation sessions that take place at the end of August.  In their methods courses, as well as most other courses in education, the Conceptual Framework is included within the syllabi and discussed prior to fieldwork or student teaching. Field supervisors create a course outline for their weekly seminars, the contents of which reflect the Conceptual Framework, the Pathwise rubric, and candidate input from reflections that are part of the portfolios.

The unit is engaged in a range of activities during which every effort is made to involve administrators and teacher mentors from the school partners. Information is disseminated about professional development workshops for teachers given at Adelphi University. Sample documentation from these workshops is offered as Exhibit S3-7. The workshops and other activities in partnership with schools have included:

• Conducting the Urban Teaching Workshop at which school administrators, candidates and parents discussed the urban school experience (Fall 2005)
• Co-sponsoring of the U.N/Adelphi Conference on Teaching for Peace and Human Rights (Spring 2006)
• Conducting the Community Study of New Cassel in cooperation with the Westbury School District (on-going)
• Co-coordinating of lab sites in Minneola, Roosevelt, and the Queens High School for teaching, where school faculty are encouraged to teach and conduct fieldwork (on-going and growing)
• Sponsoring of a seminar revisiting the "Shame of the Suburbs" debate, including school faculty, community members, school administrators and state education officials (Fall 2005)
• Facilitating a conference on Issues in Independent Living for Adolescents and Adults on the Autism Spectrum (Spring 2006)
• Conducting forums with school faculty, administrators, school faculty, and community members in Suffolk to discuss professional development needs (Fall 2005)
• Participating in the Bridges Curriculum Council (a Nassau County-based "think tank"), whose membership includes local teachers and administrators, many from the partner schools (on-going)
• Co-sponsoring a forum on environmental hazards in schools ("Our Children at Risk:  Are Schools making Our Children Sick," October 2006)