Preparing Teachers to Make High Need Students Visible through
a “Lived-in” Model of Teacher Education
Dr. Maguth, working with Distinguished Professor Dr. Hal Foster (Author of America’s Unseen Kids, 2008), have engineered an award-winning model to teacher education that embeds teacher preparation in area schools where well-trained and supervised education majors mentor, tutor, and teach high need youth. University students, enrolled in their teaching methods courses, plan and coach youth through an inquiry-based, advanced curriculum while catering to their unique learning needs. Education majors are on-site daily over the entirety of the semester building relationships with students, teachers, and administrators. This transformative model of teacher preparation allows education majors to learn "about practice in practice" (Ball and Cohen, 1999), and is an exemplar for ways in which Pk-12 schools and university teacher preparation programs can create and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships with area schools that benefit not only the universities, but the schools and students they partner with; in particular, making visible and meeting the needs of academically vulnerable youth (as required under CAEP Accreditation Standards).
Under this model teacher candidates and their instructors work across traditional content areas in classrooms to create and implement academically rigorous, relevant, and interdisciplinary instructional units under the direct supervision of their university instructors and classroom teachers. University students build meaningful professional relationships with high need youth in order to establish a positive and inclusive learning environment for all students. This program, centered on trusting and collaborative partnerships between teacher preparation programs and Pk-12 schools, has been in existence for over 20 years, initially started in the Akron Public Schools. The program has subsequently moved to Barberton City Schools and has won praise and been adopted and studied by universities and school districts nationwide. External and internal evaluations find this award-winning collaborative model yields increased academic gains for high need youth, while successfully helping to prepare the next generation of compassionate and skilled educators need in our communities (Deevers, 2015; Maguth & Foster, 2016; Koskey &Maguth, 2016).
Teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and curriculum specialists interested in learning more about this research-based and successful model are invited to reach out and schedule an on-site visit with observation.
2005: Dr. Hal Foster transitioned the “lived-in” model to Barberton City Schools working with 10th grade ELA teachers.
2014: Dr. Brad Maguth joins Dr. Hal Foster in fully embedding his Secondary History/Social Studies methods courses in 10th grade classrooms at Barberton High School.
2014: AT&T Awards this innovative model with a $25,000 gift to support its development and reach in helping high need students.
2014: Summit Education Initiative (external evaluator) discovered 10th graders participating in the lived-in model demonstrated statistically significant gains in GPA (inoculated against traditional declines), and improved socio-emotional attitudes towards school when compared with those 10th graders not participating.
2015: Due to its proven success the lived-in model scales into Barberton Middle School (in social studies with Dr. Brad Maguth)
2015: Ohio Department of Education Awards this collaboration a $75,000 Community Connector grant to support this innovative model in teaching, tutoring, and mentoring high need youth. The "lived-in" model expands to include the training of community mentors to work with at-risk high school students. Johnson United Methodist Church, Raymond James Financial, and the United Way of Summit County partner on this community-based collaborative. Dr. Kristin Koskey joins the program as Co-Principal Investigator.
2015: Findings, practices, and resources from the "lived-in" model to teacher preparation are used to design and implement an acclaimed I PROMISE Mentorship Initiative in partnership with Akron Public Schools and the LeBron James Family Foundation(LJFF). After completing an Urban Youth Mentorship Course (which also meets a university General Education requirement), trained and faculty supervised, undergraduate students are matched as closely as 1:1 as possible with mentees. Mentors work with academically vulnerable I PROMISE youth (all Akron Public students enrolled in LJFF programming) over the course of the entire semester in an after school mentoring program.
2016: Due to its proven success the lived-in model scales into Barberton Middle School (in special education with Dr. Al Daviso).
2016: Ohio Department of Education Awards this innovative model a $99,000 grant to support teaching, tutoring, and mentoring high need youth. Dr. Al Daviso joins the program as Co-Principal Investigator.
2017: Researchers and stakeholders from The University of Akron, the Akron Public Schools, Barberton City Schools, The LeBron James Family Foundation, UCLA's Center X, the United Way of Summit County, and the Center for Secondary School Redesign (Brown University) propose scaling this innovative model to teacher and mentor preparation regionally and nationally (in particular, into the recently announced I PROMISE School). Partners submit a $4 Million dollar grant in Innovation and Research to the U.S. Department of Education.
2017: Evaluators find 10th and 12th graders mentored, tutored, and taught by pre-service teachers over the course of the semester gained academically. Gains included quarter GPA, SLO exam scores, and survey results indicating high school students, working with pre-service teachers, improved their academic achievement (Maguth, Koskey, Daviso, & Stevic, 2017).
2017: Ohio Department of Education grants , over three years, provided a quarter of a million dollars ($273,000) to support this innovative model. This includes the announcement of a $99,000 grant for 2017-18.
2017: Barberton City Schools administrators and leaders meet with Drs. Maguth, Foster, Koskey, and Daviso to discuss ways in which to embed this acclaimed "lived-in" model in the district's elementary schools (making it a fully district-wide initiative).
2018: Ohio Department of Education awards a 102,000 grant for 2018-19 to support youth mentoring through our "lived-in" model to teacher education.
2018: Evaluators find middle school students mentored, tutored, and taught by pre-service teachers over the course of the semester gained academically. Gains included grade point average and survey results indicating middle school students, working with pre-service teachers, improved their academic achievement.
2020: Due to the COVID19 pandemic, leadership teams members propose and implement a "digitally lived-in model" to teacher preparation that harnessed synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities. This hybrid clinical placement built on previous program successes, while integrating advanced technologies, to allow pre-service teachers to continue to mentor, tutor, and teach academically vulnerable youth.
References & Resources Foster, H., & Nosol, M. (2008). America's Unseen Kids/Teaching English/Language Arts in Today's Forgotten High Schools: Teaching English/Language Arts in Today's ForgottenHigh Schools. New York: Heinemann.
This project is built off of the mentorship project proposed in Foster and Nosol's (2008) America's Unseen Kids/Teaching English/Language Arts in Today's Forgotten High Schools. In this book, Foster and Nosol discuss a lived-in model of teacher preparation that was highly successful in advancing a rigorous and differentiated English Language Arts secondary curriculum to some of this nation's most vulnerable high school students in Akron, Ohio. In this model, the authors identify the benefits of placing university education majors/mentors into PK-12 schools to help our nation's most vulnerable ("invisible") students and to support the extra-ordinary efforts of teachers working in our most disadvantaged schools. Foster & Nosol assert this model not only benefits PK-12 students, teachers, and administrators but provides an authentic and meaningful laboratory in which university faculty can work alongside teacher candidates in their teacher preparation.
Deevers, M. (2013). Preliminary Findings from a “Lived-in” Model to Teacher Education. Akron, Ohio: Summit Education Initiative.
Research conducted by an external evaluator in the fall of 2013 demonstrated the success well-trained University of Akron pre-service teachers had on fostering resiliency, academic mastery, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging and community among at-risk 10th grade Barberton students. In a research project that investigated the impact of embedding highly qualified university students in a high school classroom on student learning, researchers noted this initiative “...advanced the socio-emotional health and academic performance of the secondary students we mentored and taught.” 10th graders we worked with demonstrated statistically significant gains when compared against the group not receiving this treatment in the areas of Academic Press, Adult Support, Positive Peer Relationships, and Sense of Safety. Since there was close to a 1:1 pairing of mentors to students, we were able to individualize instruction and build a supportive, caring, and differentiated learning environment
Maguth, B., & Deevers, M. (November, 2014). Lived-In: TheResults of Embedding Pre-Service Social Studies Education in a 10th Grade U.S. History Classroom to Enhance Student Learning. Presented at the Annual Conference of the College and University Faculty Assembly of The National Council for the Social Studies in Boston, MA.
Researchers discussed the implications of a “lived-in” model of social studies education in teacher education and preparation. Results from this study demonstrated the success well-trained University of Akron pre-service social studies teachers had on fostering resiliency, academic mastery, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging and community amongst at-risk 10th grade Barberton students enrolled in social studies classrooms.
Maguth, B., Koskey, K., & Daviso, A, 2017, Mobilizing Trained Community Mentors to Make Visible America’s Unseen Kids: Lessons from Barberton. Forthcoming.
Presents the expansion of the “Lived-in” model to teacher preparation into a well-received “Community-Based Mentorship” initiative which prepared and enlisted the efforts of an army of trained mentors to support high need middle and high school students. This community-based mentorship model consisted of three tiers: Tier 1: Education majors, enrolled in a course, working with a matched high need student during the school day, Tier 2: Education majors, enrolled in a course, working with a matched high need student during the school day AND committing to meeting with them once a week outside of “course-time”. Tier 3: Trained adult community mentors who are matched and meet with high need students before, during, or after school for an hour once a week. Findings include self reporting their adaptive problem solving skills increased from before to after participating in the program in FY15 and FY16. This increase was statistically significant for FY16 after only two months of mentorship, p < .001. 4. Mentees' qualitative responses supported impact of mentors in their academics (e.g., learning strategies, organization strategies), character (e.g., think before act), and attitude about the future. Also, they reported “most liking” simply being able to talk to someone about their life. 5. Mentors' qualitative responses supported impact for the mentors in that they have a greater awareness of the challenges youth experience today, feel a sense of pride in giving back to the community, increased skills in connecting with youth, and feel better prepared to teach (for University mentors).