UCLA and the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS) responded to these demands last year by reconfiguring its pre-service teacher education program, its professional development programs for practicing educators (formerly CAIP), and its Ed.D. program in educational leadership under one rubric -- Center X. This new arrangement has enhanced collaborative activities among GSE&IS students and faculty, K-12 teachers, and community college educators. It aims simultaneously at providing rigorous, high-quality pre- and in-service education and at radically improving urban schooling for children in the Los Angeles area.
This is no easy task. Lack of resources often undermine well-intentioned, thoughtful efforts on the part of caring teachers and administrators. Furthermore, structures in the schools rarely allow for children's diverse needs or abilities, and often limit their creativity and initiative. As a result, students are "lost" before they have a chance to develop their own learning. Children from non-mainstream ethnic groups and low-income families are most often the ones harmed by these circumstances, but even children from white, middle-class families are expected to fit into a uniform, regulated structure that might not be best for them.
Certainly UCLA and its GSE&IS have the capacity to make a difference in this scenario. However, business as usual will not suffice. Without doubt, it is time for change and UCLA is poised to act in bold new ways. Accordingly, Center X has restructured its Teacher Education Program to prepare teachers who have the commitment, capacity, and resilience to promote social justice and instructional equity in urban schools for student populations traditionally under-served by high quality educational programs. The two-year, combined Master of Education/CLAD or BCLAD (Crosscultural or Bilingual Crosscultural Language Academic Development) Emphasis Credential program includes a salaried residency assignment during the second year at schools with diverse student populations. University-school partnerships and novice-mentor models for student teaching also are in place to anchor Center X's belief that "It takes a whole school to educate a teacher," an adaptation of the African aphorism, "It takes a whole village to raise a child."
The acclaimed educator John Dewey maintained that the value of connecting educational research and practice goes far beyond improving professional education or making a contribution to public service. Likewise, Center X believes that research stands to benefit as a consequence of its contact with the world of practice. In sum, Center X participants believe that not only the urgency of public problems but also the nature of scholarly inquiry in education support a renewal of an integrated mission for the universityÕs programs in education. This commitment drives the existence of the newly-configured pre-service teacher education and professional development programs at GSE&IS.
Adapted with permission from Center X Mission & Strategies and Gene TuckerÕ' message appearing in Center X Quarterly (Spring, 1995).
Adapting the African aphorism, " It takes a whole village to raise a child," Center X believes "It takes a whole school to educate a teacher."Return to Spring 1996, vol. 1, no. 1 Issue
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