Title of Effective Practice: - California Postsecondary Education ...

Direct Connection to Policy Area 2 of The Illinois Commitment
Teacher Education: Highly Qualified Teachers Teach Diverse Populations
Millikin University
What issue or need is addressed by the effective practice?
There is a need for highly qualified teachers to teach in high needs schools with diverse populations. Teacher
Education students are largely a Caucasian population from small rural or suburban communities where they
have grown up in middle class lifestyles. They are not inclined to or confident about teaching in a high needs
school among diverse populations.
Description of the effective practice:
The effective practice we are engaging in is ‘block scheduling’ of education coursework with sustained field
internships within the blocks of courses. During one semester each year, sophomores take 12 credits of
education classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and juniors take 12 credits on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
For 5 weeks in the middle of the semester, students spend two or three full days per week with a classroom
teacher in a high needs school in Decatur. Professors of the education courses are also present in the schools
where the education students are placed. This sustained, all day field placement gives students an opportunity to
practice educational methodology, observe learning theories and strategies and their affect on various
populations.
How does this practice achieve sustainability?
This practice is sustained by continuing to schedule particular sophomore education courses during the fall
semester and particular junior education courses during the spring semester. The practice is sustained by
assuring that faculty are effectively advising education students. The practice is also sustained by nurturing a
healthy, equitable, and collaborative relationship with our urban schools.
What are the results/measurable outcomes?
We have been engaging in this effective practice for the past three years. The following changes have occurred:
1. Teachers are more willing to take our education students because they will be in the classroom all day
and the professors are also present. Our relationship with the school district has improved.
2. Education students wanting to go to the Urban Life Center in Chicago for internships and student
teaching in the Chicago Public Schools has increased.
3. Education students wanting to teach internationally have also increased.
4. Professors have more ‘teachable moments’ at the school when their students are placed in classrooms
and they are there to discuss, model, observe, and give feedback.
Contact Information
Name: Dr. Nan Gaylen
Email: ngalen@millikin.edu
Phone: (217) 424-3790
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