This fall the College of Education officially instated a Partnership Council. This council is designed to foster collaborative relationships between schools in south Georgia with faculty members and support systems from Georgia Southern University, as well as promote the simultaneous renewal of schools and educator

Partnership Coordinator Associate Professor Christine A. Draper

preparation programs. The Partnership Council includes representatives of departmental programs from undergraduate and graduate educator programs for the College of Education, the executive director of the First District RESA and twelve P-12 members. Ex-officio members include the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Teacher Education, the Director of Field Placements, the Department Chair of Teaching and Learning, and the Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Research. The council is chaired by the Partnership Coordinator, Associate Professor Christine A. Draper, and currently meets twice each semester. If you would like more information, please contact Christine at [email protected] 

Thanks to a grant provided by the Partnership Council, Assistant Professor Melony Allen is currently working with 22 classroom teachers and 3 Georgia Southern student teachers at Marlow Elementary to conduct a professional learning community that is working to ensure that ALL students' needs are met. With Allen's  support, the group is conducting a book study with Carol Ann Tomlinson's book, The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners (2014).
Participants have the choice to meet and discuss in numerous environments during lunch & learns, face-to-face or even through blogging. Teachers participating in this professional learning opportunity will conduct self-studies of their current approaches to differentiated instruction. They will then collaborate, plan and implement novel approaches to differentiated instruction in their classrooms. Thanks to support from the county office, teacher participants will all receive 1 PLU and those that co-plan and co-teach a differentiated unit will be able to earn up to 3 PLU's.

The Special Education Undergraduate Program has partnered with several local elementary and middle schools to provide a unique onsite learning experience for SPED teacher candidates. During the candidates' second semester in the program they complete field placements and coursework onsite at William James Middle School and Mattie Lively Elementary School. In the third semester of the program candidates attend their behavior management and inclusive practices courses at a local elementary and middle school. Associate Professor Kymberly Harris, Clinical Instructor Kathleen Tootle and Assistant Professor Catherine S. Howerter organized learning experiences that included classroom based activities such as observations, data collection, assisting classroom teachers, interviewing school faculty and implementing lesson plans.