PREPARING NEXT GENERATION OF TEACHERS FOR CITY CLASSROOMS GOAL OF NEW CHARLES TOUHEY-SAINT ROSE INITIATIVE

ALBANY (February 1, 2010) -- How prepared are the new teachers who enter urban schools?

Albany businessman Charles Touhey and Saint Rose President Dr. R. Mark Sullivan today announced a new program to address that question by targeting successful approaches to teaching in the urban classroom and helping prepare the next generation of educators in city schools.

Starting this fall, the Touhey Urban Education Initiative will give first-year Saint Rose education students who are interested in urban careers a realistic picture of, and learn effective approaches to, city teaching. Participants will take part in on-campus seminars, do extensive fieldwork and work closely with teachers and administrators in local city schools. Through the initiative, Touhey, an Albany native, also wants the College to identify strategies that make the difference between success and failure.

Touhey, a Saint Rose trustee has pledged $100,000 toward scholarships and program support for up to 10 freshmen who indicate an interest in urban education. Financial incentives can be added when they graduate and sign on to teach in a city. The College has pledged an additional $500,000 over five years to support the program. A second cohort of freshmen will follow in 2011.

“Children of color and children who are poor are not graduating at the same rate as white and middle-class children in the suburbs and it’s not right. It’s a national crisis,” said Touhey, a long-time supporter of urban education who formerly served on the Albany Board of Education. “I think the message indirectly is that they are not as important as everyone else. How are we preparing teachers who are on the front lines? I want to give the College an opportunity to reflect and share with students and learn from practitioners in our local schools.”

President Sullivan said that the Touhey Initiative was the latest reflection of the College’s long commitment to helping children in urban communities. The Thelma P. Lally School of Education has long been involved in urban education and collaborates extensively with P-12 city schools throughout the Capital Region. Most members of the Saint Rose faculty who are engaged in preparing future teachers have themselves had significant experiences teaching in urban settings. Touhey and Sullivan each noted that the program would cull approaches from a multitude of parties, such as charter schools and traditional public schools, which are often at odds.

“Differences of opinion abound on all these issues,” said Sullivan. “Yet there is one area of debate that gains universal acceptance – and that is the notion that the quality of the teachers in our urban schools is the single most important ingredient and predictor of student academic success… we need to incentivize more students to opt for teaching jobs in city schools, especially students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.”

Participants will form a learning community that meets all four years with designated Saint Rose faculty members and educators from local city schools. Students will do fieldwork every semester they are at Saint Rose and, hopefully, come to appreciate what sets city schools apart.

“Cities can be exciting and vibrant environments that offer so much,” said Dr. Margaret Kirwin, dean of the School of Education. “But how do you run a classroom with the wide range of students that we see typically in urban classrooms? We want our future teachers to get exposure to the realities of urban education, the needs and the financial constraints, but most of all how to work that diversity into an advantage for school kids.”

The initiative will examine the importance of culturally relevant materials in the classroom. The students also will confront some common misconceptions, including that poor urban children are not able to perform at the same level as others. In addition, people involved in the collaboration want to help show urban schools as positive and dynamic learning centers.

“I’d like all education students to see what the urban setting is like,” said Cecily Wilson, a Saint Rose alumna who is principal of Albany’s Sheridan Preparatory Academy, an elementary school. “It’s a wonderful, creative environment. Of course there are challenges in every setting, but if we get more education students in to see what it’s like we might get some who are interested and hadn’t considered it before.”

To apply for the Fall 2010 Touhey Urban Education Inititiave, click here.
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