Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - On Sept. 16, U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan, joined by philanthropist Eli Broad and members of the U.S. Congress, named Aldine Independent School District in Houston the 2009 winner of the Broad Prize. The $2 million Broad Prize for Urban Education is the largest education award in the nation.

Over 1,000 miles north of Houston, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville celebrated with the Aldine district. UWP Interim Chancellor Carol Sue Butts noted, "UW-Platteville and the Aldine district have a strong partnership that started five years ago. I have had the opportunity to visit this district and to witness its focus on student success for all. Working with and in this district is beneficial for our faculty, staff and students."

The UWP School of Education has worked with the Aldine district, placing UWP education students in district schools to complete their clinical experience (i.e., student teaching). Aldine administrators approached Dr. Wally Iselin, UWP coordinator of Clinical Experiences, in 2004 with the possibility of creating a partnership between Aldine and UWP. Jeff McCanna, director of human resources for the Aldine district, explained that the district was interested in UWP because of the quality of student teachers and graduates in education.

"UWP does an awesome job of preparing students to go out and work with any kid, anywhere," said McCanna. Five years have passed since UWP formed a partnership with Aldine. Since then each January, during Winterim, 20 students in the early childhood education program have spent a two-week period teaching at Aldine and many from that group return to Aldine to complete their clinical placements. This academic year, more than 20 interns and student teachers in all levels from UWP have selected Aldine as their temporary home and are using their skills and knowledge to help their students in Aldine. According to Nathan Boughton of Aldine ISD, when UWP and Aldine began working on their partnership, a standard was set for all university partnerships.

Angie Hillery, a UWP early elementary education major from Belmont, visited Aldine last Winterim with a group of UWP students. "During my two-week Winterim experience at Aldine, I saw the high teaching standards set by the district. Everyone involved in the district did their best to ensure the success of their students and I knew I wanted to be a part of that," Hillery remembers.

Hillery returned in August to complete her clinical placement requirement; she plans to stay until June. "The experience I have gained in the past couple months at Aldine has been extremely valuable. Since the first day, I have been treated as a staff member, taking part in preparing the classrooms and making decisions in curriculum."

Iselin believes that teaching at Aldine is especially valuable because of the experience UWP students receive working with diverse populations.

"There are many UWP students who never leave the Midwest," Iselin said. "Teaching in a school district where 97 percent of the students are Black or Hispanic and 86 percent are economically disadvantaged broadens their teaching horizon and exposes them to more teaching challenges."

Hillery, who is completing her clinical placement at the third and fourth grade level, agrees. "Teaching diverse populations has helped me become a better and different teacher. I have a few students who speak English as a second language and this is only their first year learning in an entirely English-speaking classroom. It's a welcome challenge to figure out new ways to teach them," Hillery said.

In speaking about this year's award, Eli Broad, founder of The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which sponsors The Broad Prize said, "Aldine has demonstrated that when an entire community and district work together with a singular focus on educating every child, they can succeed, even against the odds of poverty. Their success holds valuable lessons for other urban districts trying to do the same."

"The award recognized the amazing job our teachers - and UWP graduates and student teachers - are doing with Aldine students," said Boughton. "As a partnership university, UWP should be proud to know their graduates are part of the reason Aldine achieved this level of success."

Mittie Nimocks, dean of the UWP College of Liberal Arts and Education, thanked Iselin for having the foresight to see the special partnership that could develop between UWP and Aldine and for moving forward with it. "I hope that the collaboration between Aldine and UWP will continue, will grow and most importantly, will help change the lives of young teachers and students," said Nimocks.

For more information on the Broad Prize or UWP's education programs, contact Iselin at (608) 342-1271 or Iselin@uwplatt.edu.