UNI's Literacy Education division and Waterloo's Lincoln Elementary School have established a Literacy Education Professional Development School (LEPDS) partnership. Dr. Rick Traw serves as the director of the partnership between Lincoln and UNI, and other Literacy Education faculty members are involved as well.

LEPDS Goals

LEPDS intends to provide

• Opportunities to improve the literacy learning of Lincoln children
• Better career preparation for UNI Elementary Education majors with Literacy Education minors
• Opportunities for professional growth for Lincoln teachers and administrators, and for UNI Literacy Education faculty members.

An important part of the PDS is to embed a cohort of UNI Elementary Education majors with Literacy Education minors into the life and work of Lincoln Elementary. The cohort and their professors conduct classes on-site at Lincoln and integrate the coursework with field experiences at the school that are both intensive and extensive. The year-long program involves students in one-on-one tutoring, serving as assistants in classrooms, and teaching small-group and whole-group lessons. It also includes out-of-classroom experiences such as attendance at inservice workshops, faculty meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and Family Literacy night.

Another important activity of LEPDS is to provide professional growth opportunities for members of the Lincoln faculty and for UNI faculty members involved in the program. Because the LEPDS partnership puts Lincoln teachers and UNI professors together working with UNI undergraduates and Lincoln children, they are able to become involved in mutual projects such as graduate studies and instructional study groups that help them develop their teaching expertise.

Finally, the most important goal of LEPDS is to improve the literacy learning of the children at Lincoln Elementary. Unless that occurs, none of the other goals are worthy.

Undergraduate Experience

Members of the LEPDS cohort participate in the following activities.

• On-site coursework: A cohort of undergraduate Elementary Education majors with Literacy Education minors take several of their Literacy Education courses at Lincoln (10 credit-hours per semester). Students will spend three mornings per week at the school during the spring & fall semesters.
• Increased field experiences: A major goal of the project is to provide undergraduates with sustained experience and contact with children, teachers, administrators, parents, and all other members of a school community. These field experiences will be linked closely to students’ coursework.
• Cultural Competence: In addition to the normal goal of learning various methods of literacy instruction, another emphasis for undergraduates in this project is to develop their ability to work with children from a wide range of economic, linguistic, ethnic, and experiential backgrounds.
  

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Collaborations with Lincoln Faculty

• Through UNI's Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy, Lincoln faculty members and Literacy Education faculty are engaged in implementing the Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy model.
• Lincoln teachers present to UNI students regarding various aspects of professional practice.
• Lincoln teachers serve as mentors to UNI students.
• Action research projects involving UNI professors, Lincoln teachers, and/or UNI students may be implemented.

Standards

  The professional development school partnership is designed with two sets of standards in mind:

• International Reading Association Standards for Reading Professionals
• National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Standard for Professional Development Schools 

Contact Information

 For more information, please contact Dr. Rick Traw at (319)273-2240 or rick.traw@uni.edu

Application for the Program

Students interested in applying for the LEPDS program should download and use the documents listed below. Applications for the 2012 cohort are due by October 17, 2011.