In Millikin University’s School of Education, field experience has been considered an integral part of the curriculum.  In fact, field experience has been required in most core education courses, and we have required that one internship be completed in high needs schools with diverse populations.  Recently, however, we have recognized that the field experience component of our curriculum needs to provide more opportunities for candidates to integrate the skills and concepts that they have studied in authentic classroom environments.  In our elementary curriculum, we have designed more intensive and collaborative internships in the form of sophomore and junior blocks, but developing a similar set of experiences for the secondary education candidates has proven to be a more complex task in that secondary education programs involve collaboration among a wider spectrum of the university, as well as partnerships with Decatur’s middle schools and high schools.

The focus of our innovation project is the development of improved junior-level field experiences for Millikin University secondary education candidates. Teacher education faculty, faculty from science and the humanities, and a teacher/administrator from District 61’s Thomas Jefferson Middle School have collaborated to design an intensive and collaborative field experience for pre-service university juniors that addresses the needs of both the public schools and the university.  The long term goal is to transform a less authentic field experience into one in which candidates for middle school and high school teaching will teach lessons and demonstrate classroom management skills in high need and diverse classrooms.  Cooperating teachers and university faculty will provide assistance in planning lessons and will be present to observe the lessons and provide feedback.

The Collaborative Academy for Teacher Training (CATT) represents Quincy University’s efforts to implement systemic change to better prepare teacher candidates to function in high-needs schools. Funded by the TQE Grant (2004), the teacher preparation program at Quincy University is being transformed into a professionaldevelopment school model.

In partnership with the Quincy Public Schools (District #172), John Wood Community College, and the parochial schools, the education department at Quincy University teaches sophomore education classes in K-12 school settings. Primary, intermediate, and high school sites have been selected. Direct interaction with students is an integral part of the coursework and includes observation, mentoring, and small group instruction. University faculty members share the course syllabi and objectives with the K-12 teaching staff, and they collaborate to ensure that teaching candidates have opportunities to observe and practice the concepts being studied in a real-world setting. Clinical observations are also tied to the courses offered in the school settings.

Three junior level methods courses are also being piloted second semester. Secondary music methods, and Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Methods are taught in K-12 settings with opportunities for teaching candidates to have frequent teaching experience in classrooms at these sites. All courses incorporate reflection as an important tool for evaluation, with classroom teachers invited to participate in reflective discussions with teacher candidates.

The CATT initiative represents a true collaborative effort that benefits the teacher candidates, K-12 students, K-12 teachers, and university instructors. Currently more than 65 teacher candidates, 30 K-12 teachers, five university instructors, and over 200 K-12 students are actively involved in the partnership. Many others have participated in the planning process.

Long-range plans include expanding to other sites. As additional education courses are added, new K-12 schools will be involved. Parochial schools, rural settings, schools with high numbers of English as Second Language learners, and inner city school settings in East St. Louis are being considered as possible areas of expansion.

Collaboration between all participating groups and the provision of authentic experiences for teacher candidates are the underlying tenets of the CATT initiative. Further information on the CATT initiative can be found at www.quincy.edu/~educatn