WVU-P's Partnerships Project

NEWS

West Virginia University at Parkersburg
300 Campus Drive Parkersburg WV 26104
Phone: 304-424-8203 | Fax: 304-424-8315

WVU Parkersburg establishes agreements with five Wood County elementary schools to build relationships, share resources, train teachers.

CONTACT: Dr. Cindy Kelley, chair of Education Division, 304-424-8345.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

West Virginia University at Parkersburg and five Wood County elementary schools are entering into a partnership which officials describe as a win-win project.

The WVU Parkersburg Partnerships Project teams the teachers and students at Fairplains, Mineral Wells, Neale, Williamstown and Worthington elementary schools with the faculty of the Education, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Reading divisions at the college and its education majors.

"Within five years, the United States will be in desperate need of qualified teachers in our nation's schools," noted Dr. Cindy Kelley, chair of the college's Education Division.

"At the same time, colleges of education are often criticized for not offering practical, field-based training for novice teachers," she continued. "The Partnerships Project is designed to impact these issues by sharing professional development, innovative methods in raising student achievement and quality preparation of new teachers."

The project will involve more than 100 Wood County School teachers, 1,300 elementary school students, 15 college faculty and 200 pre-service teachers.

In the first component of the project, pre-service education students are placed in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms at the member elementary schools. They work closely with classroom teachers and specialists to plan and deliver initial and remedial instruction.

"This gives the elementary students a greater opportunity to receive individual attention, enrichment and remediation," Dr. Kelly noted.

The project's second component involves delivery of college professional education courses in the elementary schools' settings -- what Dr. Kelley describes as a "break-the-mold element" of the partnership. Opportunities are provided to plan, collaborate and teach with experienced teachers and to observe classroom teachers and college faculty offer demonstration teaching.

Professional development serves as the third component of the project. WVU Parkersburg pre-service teachers and faculty, principals and aides jointly participate in professional growth experiences in such areas as collaborative teaching, cooperative learning and content area specializations. Through training in the use of formative and reflective evaluation, skills of both pre-service and veteran teachers are enhanced, Dr. Kelley noted.

A formal signing ceremony was held Friday (Nov. 21) at the college. Neale, Mineral Wells, Williamstown, and Worthington elementary schools entered into new formal agreements while Fairplains renewed its agreement with WVU Parkersburg. Fairplains served as a pilot school for the initial project which began in 1996.

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For additional information, contact:
Connie Dziagwa
WVU Parkersburg
Executive Director
Communications/Public Relations
(304-424-8203)