| University/school partnerships provide a fairly new alternative to traditional forms of teacher education. This form of collaboration between two entities of education gained momentum in the 1980s and is still accelerating in the 1990s on both sides of the Atlantic. The institutions of higher education and schools in such partnerships are treated as equal partners; they stand in partnership for mutual benefits with reciprocal influence on each other.; Following a multimethod design, this study was undertaken with the objective to identify the impact of CEE/school partnerships on the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) at Northern Arizona University. Three research questions were considered: one related to the impact of such partnerships on CEE faculty and CEE teacher education programs; one related to the perception of preservice teachers about their respective partnerships; and one related to the needs assessment for establishing an improved, better, or new model for CEE's future partnerships. Two Likert-type instruments with open-ended questions and two structured interviews/focus group discussions were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data from CEE faculty and preservice teachers. Quantitative data gathered via Likert-type instruments were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and an ANOVA for group comparisons. The qualitative data, on the other hand, were summarized into recurrent themes and/or patterns. The findings from quantitative and qualitative data and information from the literature review were triangulated to draw conclusions and implications from this study.; The major findings of this study were: Although CEE/school partnerships have a good reputation nationwide, their impact on CEE education curricula and CEE faculty in general was very meager. The faculty who had some experience in partnership activities seemed to have a better perception about partnerships and exhibited willingness to serve as partners in future endeavors. However, owing to the lack of appropriate dissemination of partnership data, faculty with no partnership experience seemed to have little information about CEE/school collaborations. These two groups showed a statistically significant difference in their perceptions about CEE-partnership activities and outcomes.; The preservice teachers in partnerships were quite satisfied with their own programs. All nine partnerships surveyed scored very high average on all aspects of partnerships. The preservice teachers from the Navajo Reservations were even more satisfied than their counterparts trained at non-Reservation sites (Flagstaff and Sedona partnerships). The group comparison among Flagstaff, Reservation, and Sedona preservice trainees was, however, not statistically significant.; Both faculty and preservice teacher groups identified "hands-on" practical activities as the main strength of their partnerships. Another advantage of partnership was the close relationship among preservice teachers, school teachers, and university faculty that promoted professional development in all stakeholders. However, partnerships were not as strong in theories and content courses (owing to their major emphasis on practice) as traditional programs on campus. Suggestions to remedy such shortfalls were extended, such as provisions for preservice teachers to attend some of the campus courses and for on-campus trainees to be given opportunities for practice teaching in partnerships.; No specific components of an improved or a new model of CEE-partnership were suggested by either sample group; however, the implications drawn from qualitative responses formed the basis for suggested change in CEE/school partnerships as well as in CEE education curricula. |
