Preparing Future Educators Through Professional Partnership

Partners brainstorm
Towards the end of the professional development
session, CPS partners post their reflections
on the discussion board.

The opportunity to meaningfully engage with a practicing special education teacher is one of the many advantages of being a STEP=UP cohort member.

The Partner relationship is based on two-way communication. In the Master's Degree program, UIC Partners (pre-service teachers in the STEP=UP program) meet regularly with CPS Partners (exemplary Special Education teachers who are currently working in Chicago Public Schools) to discuss best practices and the many challenges and joys of working with students with disabilities.

To support our CPS partner teachers in their development as teacher educators, STEP=UP provides professional development and publishes a bi-annual newsletter addressing issues of teacher education and mentoring.

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Chicago Public Schools Partner Preparation

The hard work and dedication of our CPS Partners is a critical component of the STEP=UP Master's Degree program. CPS Partners share valuable insights into the profession, and help their UIC Partners better contextualize their coursework and understand how it relates to their future practice.

One of the many strategies that CPS Partners employ in connecting with their UIC Partners is the use of classroom "artifacts" to illustrate key strategies, concepts and events. The artifact can be any object from the Partner teacher's classroom - from a piece of student work to a book that was used in a lesson. CPS Partners ground their conversation around the artifact and use it to guide their discussions around relevant issues of practice.

Jennifer and Judi
Jennifer and Judi present some of the work they have done
with their students, and discuss ways to explain their
reasoning behind this work with pre-service teachers.


Each semester we provide our CPS Partners with professional development to help them in their support of our students.



Chicago Public Schools Partners' Newsletter

In addition to our program newsletter, we also create a special newsletter just for our CPS Partner teachers. The Partner newsletter contains includes helpful resources and thoughts on working with pre-service special education teachers.

  • December 1, 2009 Newsletter
    Feature Article: Curriculum based measurement and progress monitoring
    Digital Corner: interventioncentral.org/ studentprogress.org
    Partner Corner: Research Matters: How student progress monitoring improves instruction.

  • April 1, 2009 Newsletter
    Feature Article: Looking at Student Work To Guide Teaching
    Digital Corner: Rubistar From 4Teachers.org
    Partner Corner: David Rench on Looking at Student Work

  • October 1, 2008 Classic Newsletter
    Feature Article: Mentoring With Artifacts
    Mentor Corner: Using Artifacts - An Excellent Example
    Research Corner: Discover Literacy Artifacts Outside The Classroom

  • April 1, 2008 newsletter
    Feature Article: Learning from Looking at Student Work
    Research Corner: Looking at Student Work for Teacher Learning
    Digital Corner: Looking at Student Work (http://www.lasw.org)

  • October 1, 2007 newsletter
    Feature Article: Reading and Understanding Expository Text
    Research Corner: Helping Novice Teachers Understand Practices and Dilemmas of Teaching Content Area Text
    Digital Corner: Visual Thesaurus

  • April 1, 2007 newsletter
    Feature Article: Learning To Teach Reading Comprehension
    Research Corner: Fostering Good Mentoring Relationships
    Digital Corner: Ripple Effects Teaching Coach

  • October 1, 2006 newsletter
    Feature Article: Choosing Literacy Artifacts
    Research Corner: Knowledge and Vision in Teaching
    Digital Corner: ZoomText 9.0

  • April 1, 2006 newsletter
    Feature Article: Phases of Learning Teaching
    Research Corner: Mentoring Induction Principles and Guidelines
    Special Focus: Literacy Artifacts Come Alive through Mentoring

  • October 1, 2005 newsletter
    Feature Article: Mentoring with Artifacts - Connecting Teacher Candidates to Real Teaching Experiences
    Special Focus: Using Resources to Discover Literacy Artifacts Outside the Classroom

  • April 1, 2005 newsletter
    Feature Article: Mentoring with Artifacts - Choosing an Artifact and Planning Your Discussion
    Digital Corner: Sheree Rense's Mentoring Page
    Teacher Resource: World Vision Storehouse

  • October 1, 2004 newsletter
    Feature Article: Beginning a New Mentoring Relationship

  • April 15, 2004 newsletter
    Feature Article: About the STEP=UP Program
    Digital Corner: The Mentoring Leadership and Resource Network


Interviews with CPS Partners

For each quarterly program newsletter, we interview one of our Chicago Public Schools Partners. Click on the Partner's name to see the full interview.

Resources for Partners

  • Bryant, D., Ugel, N., Thompson, S. & Hamff, A. (1999), Instructional strategies for content-area reading instruction. Intervention in School & Clinic, 34 (5) p. 293-302 Download