University Business - February 2010 - (Page 29)

Lofty educational goals are the aim for students of The Preuss School, which was chartered by the University of California, San Diego, in 1999. first year of the downtown Phoenix school, at which 60 percent of students are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program, and 45 percent are identified as non-English speaking. “Demographics are 90 percent of the game,” says Garcia. “Who are your kids and families, and what resources do they have? Our writing assessments show that kids downtown are doing as well as the kids at Polytechnic. Do we do it differently at the downtown campus? Yes we do.” In launching its K-12 schools, ASU has been paving a two-way street. “Now that the schools are established, our faculty are seeing them as an opportunity for more meaningful and flexible partnerships, and an opportunity to scale up the work that they’ve been doing,” says de los Santos, noting that ASU professors have been particularly successful in securing grants for research at the university’s schools compared to other schools in the area. That research includes topics such as the effects of digital learning, educational gaming, and various math-teaching approaches. ASU graduate students are focusing their school-based research on the impact of pre-reading programs in kindergarten and using manipulatives—illustrative props during storytelling sessions—to improve student comprehension. “Now we have a place where we can try these things,” says Garcia. “Our school downtown is doing some wonderful things with robotics. Our faculty of engineering might not be as welcome at other schools.” Success in San Diego One of the universities visited by ASU officials during their planning process was the 10-year-old Preuss School, which was founded as a charter by the University of California, San Diego and continues to leverage UCSD’s broad-based involvement. Associate Chancellor Sandra Daley, who is UCSD’s chief diversity officer and chair of the Preuss school board, recalls the university’s science outreach programs during her years studying at the medical school in the 1970s, but she says that the 800 students currently enrolled in the K-12 school represent a much larger investment. “Preuss School is essentially the culmination of that commitment, the ultimate expression of that desire to prepare students for the university,” Daley observes. universitybusiness.com In creating its own school, UCSD has also changed the dimensions of education as usual. The school was designed with an intensive summer program and lengthened school year. “We’re running a school that is a ‘school-plus,’ ” Daley insists. “This isn’t just another school that’s co-located on our campus. It has embedded in it an expanded curriculum and an expanded school year with the goal that you graduate and go to college.” “We have a strong college-bound curriculum and a single-track curriculum,” adds Preuss Principal Scott Barton. “If we have an AP class in a particular subject, everyone takes it.” With 100 percent of its students from low-income families, Preuss has lived up to its billing. Of the 2009 graduating class, 95 percent got into four-year colleges. “We accepted almost 30 percent of the graduating students at UCSD, and 40 percent of those elected to come here,” says Daley, who notes that the university contributes about $1 million to Preuss’ annual budget, as well as provides a wide range of infrastructure support, from financial management to fundraising. UCSD faculty provide ongoing professional development to Preuss teachers and after-school science enrichment programs to students. More than 100 UCSD students serve as tutors and mentors to their Preuss counterparts. Preuss students serve as interns at 45 UCSD offices to fulfill the requirements of a senior “Professionalism” course. And UCSD education majors completing their student teaching at Preuss often end up as full-time teachers there. “It’s a great feeder program,” Barton acknowledges. Stanford and the Ed School Approach At Stanford, the School of Education has taken the lead in managing its two neighboring charter schools, East Palo Alto Charter School and the East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy. “We are deeply committed to reform, and this was a way not just to talk about it but to just do it,” says Education Dean Deborah Stipek. “It also grounds my faculty,” Stipek continues. “They’re training teachers and school leaders, and I think you learn a lot more when you’re running a school than when you’re studying other schools. And faculty doing mostly research are more likely to ask questions relevant to what practitioners need answers to.” February 2010 | 29 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - February 2010

University Business - February 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Internet Technology
Independent Outlook
Universities Go to School
Leveraging Technology to Increase Enrollment, Capacity, and Revenues
Meet Me Online
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
What’s New
End Note

University Business - February 2010