School and University Partnerships: Meeting Common Needs

Schools, colleges and universities exist in an inter locking, interdependent state. There is, for example, an assumed articulation between the curricula of secon dary schools and their college and university counter parts. School curriculum is determined in part by en trance requirements established by colleges and univer sities. Universities rely upon the schools to graduate students prepared for further advanced education. Universities and colleges also have a stake in the educa tion of all citizens to become productive adults who are economically capable of generating further public revenues to support education. This mission is shared with schools. Colleges of education are particularly tied to the for tunes of schools. The school depends upon colleges of education to supply new teachers and to provide inserv ice experiences for those teachers already in the classroom. Graduate courses are developed specifically for the purpose of improving the knowledge base for practicing teachers. On the other hand, colleges need schools for field experiences and student teaching in preservice preparation programs, as well as to serve as a laboratory for suggesting new areas of needed educa tional research. Given these common interests, partnerships among public schools, colleges, and universities should have flourished. They have not. The reasons are many. Research departments in public school systems have sometimes jealously guarded their research perogatives. School teachers and administrators, fully engaged in daily practice, have distrusted their more theoretical and