It is the only partnership in the country in which a university has accepted responsibility for the administration of an entire public school system. Last year, Chelsea's school board voted unanimously to extend the original ten-year partnership for an additional five years. Chelsea's Challenge grant provides the funds for professional development for teachers at all grade levels, an intergenerational literacy program in which adults and their young children learn and practice reading skills side by side, and an arts initiative with a special focus on music. It has a staff of one. Economic disparity, with poverty increasing from 26 percent in 1991 to 47 percent in 1996, an increasing ethnic minority population, and a rise in the number of children whose first language is one of seventy-seven different languages spoken in the schools, have reinforced the need to change teaching and learning strategies dramatically.
Challenge funds support three major elements of the district's reform efforts.
The first is the creation of the Vanguard Institute, a districtwide organization for teacher professional development that aims to foster a professional culture of inquiry, to uncover and spread best teaching practices, and to focus resources more effectively on improving student achievement. Second is to restructure schools into K-12 clusters to allow for greater continuity of services for families and to help students move cohesively from subject to subject, grade to grade, and level to level. Third is enlisting community support and involvement by coordinating the efforts of social service agencies, businesses, and community-based organizations that work with schools in order to better understand and meet the needs of all students in a diverse city. The Challenge in Salt Lake City is governed by a fifteen-member community governing board. Its staff is the equivalent of 1.5 employees.