Western Washington University: Woodring College of Education Pathways to Teaching for Social Justice

Report Prepared By: Maria Timmons Flores, PhD, Associate Professor Director Pathways to Teaching, faculty member of ELL / Bilingual Education Program Woodring College of Education, MS 9092, WWU, Bellingham WA. 98225 [email protected] 360-650-4559 Grant#: (715 / 720) Special Project Small Grant: Improving the Efforts to Recruit and Retain Underrepresented Population, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Grant Amount: $8580 Grant Period: April - August 2015 (Fiscal Year: 14-15
 ) Background and Project Description: Western Washington University’s Woodring College of Education provides initial professional preparation and ongoing education for teachers and school administrators in Early Childhood, Elementary, Secondary, and Special Education, as well as professional preparation in Adult and Higher Education, Human Services, Rehabilitation Counseling and Nursing. Woodring’s teacher education programs include undergraduate and graduate programs, endorsements in ELL / Bilingual Education, Reading, and Special Education, and a Minor in Education for Social Justice. The vision of the college is “to foster community relationships and a culture of learning that advance knowledge, honor diversities, and promote social justice.” Despite Woodring’s commitment to equity and diversity in vision and action, the demographics of the educators currently enrolled in educational programs in no way reflect the diversity present in the communities in which our graduates will serve.

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Professional Networks: The Pathways Initiative created a working group that linked our regional educational partners with WWU faculty members and student service professionals to focus on three co-supporting projects. Partners involved in different projects included: External Partners: Middle and High School Migrant / Bilingual Advocates from Whatcom and Skagit Counties, Recruiting Washington Teachers Educators at Burlington Edison High School and Mount Vernon High School, Skagit Valley College Maestros Para El Pueblo Coordinator, Whatcom Community College, and Sterling Meadows Residential Community. Internal WWU Partners: Faculty and Staff of Compass to Campus, Bridges Program, Learning in Community Service, Intro to Education Freshman Interest Group, Minor in Education for Social Justice, Center for Educational Equity and Diversity, Ethnic Student Center, Residential Life, Student Outreach Services, Admission, Financial Aid, and Woodring Recruitment and Retention Specialist. Projects Activities: The outcomes of the three co-supporting projects funded by this grant will be described separately, however collaborative work in one project clearly informed the work of the others. Projects included: 1) a Shadow Day experience, 2) a task force to define strategic pathways from high school through admission to teacher education; and 3) generating resources to support implementation of the Recruiting Washington Teachers into Careers in Education Curriculum.

I. Shadow Day: The Pathways partners sponsored a WWU campus based “shadow day” conference for 75 middle school, high school and community college students from Whatcom and Skagit counties. Visiting students were partnered with 45 university mentors to “shadow” them through a day in the life of a college student. The Shadow Day curriculum focused on college access and financial aid, classroom visits, exposure to pathways projects focused on education for social justice, and time to interact with faculty and education students. Affirming students’ language and culture as assets in teaching was a cornerstone of this work.

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Shadow Day Outcomes: Highlights noted in conference evaluations included, 1) Personal connections to a Keynote Speaker, Jasmine Martinez, who grew up in a migrant family and overcame many obstacles to pursue her goal to become a teacher committed to sharing Latino / Chicano history of US; 2) University classes that reflected students’ cultures and a social justice perspective; and 3) a panel of Latino university students and early career professionals who shared advice, inspiration, and possible educational careers through their stories and successes. II. Pathways Working Group: The second project created a working group of higher education partners within and beyond WWU to develop the Western Pathways to Teaching Strategic Plan. This group focused on early identification and systemic support for bilingual and culturally diverse students entering Western in their pursuit of careers in education. The pathway focused on systemic supports to navigate College Access, General University Requirements (GUR) and entry into a major and/or a teacher education program. The group began by reviewing an earlier White paper on Recruitment and Retention efforts at Woodring (2010), then reviewed current data on the barriers that many potential teacher candidates of color face, as well as promising practices to develop a network of academic, social, navigational / advising and mentoring supports. Pathways sought to build understanding of existing initiatives, such as: linked GURs focused on education and justice, GURs that feature academic support and writing development, professional experience in culturally relevant mentoring programs such as Compass to Campus, Youth for Real, and the Bridges Project, and participation in the Minor in Education for Social Justice. The Pathways working group articulated strategic pathways to strengthen students’ holistic and sustained support over time. Working Group Outcomes: In the process of working together, all committee members gained an increased awareness of: 1) campus based resources, 2) research, materials and resources

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generated in the earlier report that were consolidated, revised and built on, 3) individual pathways programs and identified ways to link them to support student development over overtime, 4) current gaps in services; and 5) a framework of strategic recommendations to continue this work. Examples of tangible projects growing out of this work include: 1) a Compass to Campus GUR course offered at Skagit Valley College (SVC) for 16 Maestros Para el Pueblo students; 2) SVC exploring Education centered linked GUR courses to support community building, advising and academic support for incoming freshman that parallels WWU’s course; 3) Inclusion of select required Education courses in the Minor in Education for Social Justice that students could take before admission to teacher education programs; and 4) a proposal to create a department or center that would bring pathways programs together to identify and support future teachers underrepresented in education.

III. Extending Resources for Recruiting Washington Teachers Curriculum: We received significant donations for the Shadow Day expenses from WWU Resident Life, the WWU Events Office, district partners and the Bellingham Food Coop. With approval of the grant coordinator, we were able to reallocate these funds to develop additional resources for the new Recruiting Washington Teachers Into Careers in Education Curriculum. This curriculum was derived from research on all RWT programs over a 6-year period but centered on the work of our regional partner, Michael Sampson, at Burlington Edison High School. Outcomes: These funds allowed us to develop resources beyond those currently used by either our regional partners or CIE programs statewide. The development of these resources also brought WWU faculty members with specific expertise into this project as advisors and developers. The collaborative work also inspired conversations about RWT articulation to WWU courses, extending CIE / RWT into

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more regional high schools, and intentional pathway development. This project extended the Pathways White Paper group’s efforts by deepening their understanding of this aspect of our pathways efforts, and the quality of the curriculum was enhanced by group members’ expertise.

What was Learned: The overarching lesson of this work is that to truly make changes within and across institutions is systemic and ongoing work and requires institutional changes in policy and resources to sustain the effort. In reviewing the 2010 Recruitment and Retention Report together, we identified both successes and gaps in following through on that reports’ recommendations. Successes include: 1) changes in recruiting and hiring to diversify our faculty; 2) creation of the pathways initiatives that were the center of this work; and 3) institutional changes such as conditional admission and creation of permanent positions to support pathways work. In reviewing recruitment and retention data, we discovered a sharp increase in diverse candidates across all teacher education programs from 2009 – 2012. Some programs show marked increases, such as early childhood education and recently in Secondary Education, however other programs have retreated in their efforts at diversification. Also, the new faculty members who were hired to lead pathways initiatives were not aware of the research and efforts of the earlier group. These observations point to the need for ongoing, college wide participation in recruitment and retention efforts. This summer’s Pathways collaboration supported this team to build on previous work, identify essential resources, and develop a strategic plan for action. Next Steps: This Pathways group members have agreed to meet monthly through the coming year to extend and build on the work initiated this summer and pursue the creation of an institutional body to sustain this work overtime. Woodring will sponsor a Diversity in Education Conference in collaboration with our internal and external institutional partners.

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