More high-poverty schools join Florida network to keep good teachers, boost student learning
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A $750,000 grant from the Wachovia Foundation to the University of Florida will allow a statewide school-improvement partnership between UF and high-poverty elementary schools to add five schools from south central Florida.
The Florida Flagship Schools network already works with at-risk schools in Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Miami-Dade County to improve student learning and teacher retention.
The five new Florida Flagship schools, located in the rural town of Immokalee in Collier County, are Pinecrest, Lake Trafford, Village Oaks, and Highlands elementary schools, and The Learning Center for pre-kindergarten children. Immokalee has a sizable number of low-income, migrant farm workers whose children attend those schools.
Expansion of the partnership was made possible through a three-year grant awarded by the Wachovia Foundation to the Lastinger Center for Learning at the UF College of Education. UF education faculty coordinate the professional development and networking activities for teachers and principals at participating schools.
The latest grant makes the Wachovia Foundation a million-dollar supporter of the Florida Flagship Schools network. A $250,000 grant last year enabled the Lastinger Center to add six schools from the Miami-Dade school district to the original eight-member network. The foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Wachovia Corporation, one of the nation’s largest financial services providers.
The Lastinger Center was one of 23 grant recipients in 11 states and one of only nine to receive the maximum amount of $750,000, awarded recently as part of the Wachovia Teachers and Teaching Initiative. The initiative supports organizations that enhance teacher recruitment, development, support and retention with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement. Grant applications are accepted by invitation only.
“The Wachovia teaching initiative is designed to strengthen the schools and teaching profession in every community we serve,” said Sam Goforth, Gainesville Area president for Wachovia. “Our partnership with the Lastinger Center and the University of Florida addresses the needs of disadvantaged school districts throughout Florida so students from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds can achieve their greatest potential.”
The Lastinger Center was created in 2002 to mobilize the expertise and resources of UF’s interdisciplinary research community and find answers for one of today’s major social concerns — improving the quality of teaching and learning in under-resourced schools.
A team of 11 UF education professors is leading the Florida Flagship Schools venture in collaboration with 19 principals and 400 teachers from participating schools. The professors embed themselves in the classrooms at participating schools for first-hand observation and demonstration of experimental teaching methods. Nearly 11,500 students attend the network’s 19 schools, with more than 93 percent enrolled in the free and reduced-lunch program for children in low-income families.
Other Flagship School participants include administrators from the involved school districts, state and national government agencies, and faculty from other UF units, including the College of Business Administration. Teachers and principals from Flagship schools each have their own networking groups — the Florida Teacher Fellowship and the Florida Academy of Principals — that meet regularly throughout the year.
“All of our Florida Flagship Schools have received D or F school grades at some point over the previous five years. Many are making tremendous gains but, paradoxically, faculty and administrators fear that improvement means the removal of state resources and financial support available to low performing schools. These conditions make teacher retention an ongoing challenge,” said Donald Pemberton, director of the UF Lastinger Center for Learning. “Our goal is to improve the educational opportunities and ensure the success of children in underserved communities, particularly African-American, Hispanic, Haitian Creole and immigrant students.”
The Lastinger Center sponsors summer institutes for network educators, coordinates joint research projects and serves as a central clearinghouse for sharing the most effective, research-driven teaching strategies and innovations.
Pemberton aims to make sure the teaching practices that prove most effective in the school-improvement program find their way into classrooms throughout Florida.
“We have created a high-impact, research-based model for improving public education. With support from the Wachovia Foundation and other groups, we can share the practices that improve student achievement and teacher retention the most with high-poverty elementary schools throughout Florida and the nation,” he said. “All schools and communities should be equipped with the strategies and practical tools they need to ensure high teaching quality and student achievement.”