From protests to parenting

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Transcript

Narrator:
With ongoing involvement in the Vietnam War, students protested against government politics and University policies. Demonstrations on University Avenue disrupted traffic, and drew Minneapolis police to campus.

Bill Gardner:
I recall the day that the Minneapolis police broke though the student barricade on Washington Avenue and came down the mall. I was teaching a graduate course at the time. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon, and we were in Pike Hall, and we had the window open because it was rather pleasant. Pretty soon people were crying. I thought this was rather odd, but the tear gas was coming in the windows.

Narrator:
An ironic educational legacy of this period of conflict was the increased emphasis on building cooperative environments in the classroom.

Roger Johnson, professor, science education
We asked what we thought was a pretty simple question which was how should students meet and interact with each other as they learn?

David Johnson, professor, educational psychology
What the research overwhelmingly indicated is that students would learn more and obtain a number of other positive outcomes such as high self-esteem, good relationships with their peers if they work cooperatively.

Roger Johnson:
That's the goal, is cooperative classrooms, cooperative school, cooperative community, changing the norms of how people meet and interact in those institutions.

Narrator:
Just as promoting cooperative learning has changed educational norms, so has developing opportunities for lifelong learning and professional development.

Carole Gupton, director, continuing professional studies; former principal; Ph.D., 1986:
Lifelong learning is about taking the concept and recognizing that you are both a learner and a teacher at the same time. The ideal is for anyone that's out there in the area of education or human development to have a way to be able to continue their learning both formally and informally.

Narrator:
One approach to lifelong learning is the college's partnership with Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis, in a professional practice school.

Sharon Cormany Ornelas, professional practice school coordinator, Patrick Henry High School; M.Ed., 2000:
The concept of a professional practice school is that it's a partnership between multiple organizations that really provides professional development for teachers at all levels of their career, at all stages of their career. They have an opportunity to really engage intellectually in the profession of teaching and to be constantly renewed by all these conversations and opportunities for growth.

Louise Sundin, president, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers; B.S., 1967:
The student results are pretty phenomenal. The attendance has gone up a great deal. So have the scores and the better results which is what the kids actually know and are able to do when they graduate.

Sharon Cormany Ornelas:
The College of Education and Human Development has been incredibly supportive of our work at Patrick Henry. The college of education isn't saying we have so much to teach you. They're saying, we have something to offer you, and you have something to offer us as well.

Narrator:
In 1987, the college began shifting most teacher training programs to the graduate level, requiring participants to already have a bachelor's degree. Just as the college was intent on providing the very best teacher preparation and development in the state, one of its graduates, with a Ph.D. In educational policy and administration, was speaking up for excellence in early childhood and family education, or ECFE.

Jerome Hughes, former Minnesota State Senator; M.A., 1958:
The research in the 1960s indicated that if you were to do something with children, it wouldn't have much value unless you involved the parent. So I became a very strong advocate of the role of the parent in the development of the child.

Marty Rossmann, professor emerita, family education; M.A., 1974; Ph.D., 1977:
The idea was that it was a professional program. It wasn't going to be just something that parents could do if they sat together at McDonald’s Playland while the kids played.

Jerome Hughes:
I think there's a culture in Minnesota for early childhood family education. I think it's making a great difference in this state, more than people realize.