CAREI Seen from the Other Side of Pillsbury
Drive
by Jean King, former CAREI Director
It's been almost nine months since I left
my leadership role at CAREI and people still kindly ask me about
my transition to a faculty role. I'll be honest: I love it.
The opportunity to work with the high-caliber students of this college
is extraordinary, and my cross-departmental teaching schedule -
including courses in foundations of education, curriculum studies,
and program evaluation - keeps my mind well stimulated. Walking
the walk is challenging; it is one thing to talk about the best
instruction that research has shown us, but another thing altogether
to bring that to life in your own practice. I continue to
try.
But let me be clear. While in one
sense the notion of transition is certainly appropriate - I am regularly
reminded of the number of meetings that I no longer attend - in
another sense I find that there has been little transition.
For those of you who know me well, it is not just that I continue
to work at my standard frenzied pace, typified by loud and rapid
walking everywhere I go. More importantly, the research and
service in which I engage actively supports CAREI's mission.
I have not left CAREI behind, nor will I ever do so. The broad
purpose of CAREI - connecting school-based practitioners with college-based
researchers for the long-term improvement of education - encompasses
my continuing efforts and I am proud to support the work of this
vital center.
Two ongoing projects make this point.
First, I am fortunate to have become the co-coordinator of our college's
Professional Practice School at Minneapolis' Patrick Henry High
School, where members of our faculty collaborate with Henry faculty
and administrators to deliver top-quality urban teacher education.
The day-to-day interactions of the faculties attest to the vitality
of the CAREI approach - not a hierarchical relationship where we
in the research community tell teachers what to do, but rather a
continuing conversation through which each side learns from the
other and in which we together seek improved practice, both for
the college and for the school.
The second project that I am fortunate
to head is a task force that is revitalizing the Evaluation Studies
Program in the college, working collaboratively across the departments
of Educational Policy and Administration and Educational Psychology.
CAREI will be the logical home for a new generation of evaluation
students, who will gain practical experience in real-world studies
while simultaneously helping school-based practitioners to improve
in ways they see as appropriate. At both the Henry High PPS
and in the reemerging Evaluation Studies Program, collaboration
and mutual learning is key. And in that sense, I remain an
active part of CAREI.
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