COE
invited to join prominent network
By Greg
Johnston
A partnership
between the UNM College of Education, UNM College of Arts and
Sciences and Albuquerque Public Schools has been granted membership
into the National Network for Educational Renewal, a Seattle-based,
prominent network of teacher preparation institutions and school
districts. With the addition of UNM, the network includes 23
national settings.
NNER is
highly respected and widely published. The work of the organization
is to simultaneously improve the quality of education for citizens
and the quality of preparation of educators through partnerships.
For UNM
to be accepted into NNER, the application process required that
the partnership demonstrate evidence of extensive collaborative
work between the two colleges and APS.
Collaborative
efforts must promote renewal in each organization to ensure
that current students have access to quality teachers. Partnership
members must also engage in extensive professional development
to familiarize themselves with the Agenda for Education in a
Democracy that guides the NNER. The agenda is derived from a
large scale study of schools and teacher preparation by John
I. Goodard, a Seattle-based researcher.
We are
delighted to be selected as partner with APS, said Viola
Florez, UNM College of Education dean. Our partnership
over numerous years has produced many successes, including programs
for teacher recruitment, retention and professional development.
The education of our students at UNM and the education of students
in APS is vital for the future of our community and state.
Through
the NNER work, we will tackle the tough issues together and
improve education in New Mexico, said Beth Everitt, superintendent,
Albuquerque Public Schools. The challenges of urban education
are too big for one institution to solve.
We
at UNM are strongly committed to educational outreach across
the state to enhance student learning. Membership in NNER is
important because this is a group that is dedicated to this
kind of work across the country. It is also significant because
it recognizes UNM as having a strong collaboration between the
schools of Education and Arts and Sciences, said Reed
Dasenbrock, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.