Transformation in Teacher Preparation: Collaborating with School Partners, Enriching our Programs with High Poverty Urban Teaching Opportunities

Abstract

The teacher preparation programs at University of Central Florida graduates approximately 1,000 prospective teachers annually. They are well prepared for teaching positions in the schools that look like the suburban, middle class ones which most of the teacher candidates attended. They have not been as well prepared for the Title I schools that make up 70% of the local school system, or to teach the 2,000 homeless children in our area. In 2015, the faculty and administration began working intentionally with school system partners to transform the programs so that they prepare teachers for schools where teachers are most urgently needed: high poverty urban schools. This is the narrative of portions of the early stages of that transformation.