This gives them the benefit of a good university background and a solid practitioner s view of teaching in today s schools. Teachers provide the university with valuable feedback concerning its preparation of pre-service teachers, thus bridging the gap between theory and practice. Additionally, teachers have the opportunity to engage in numerous inservice opportunities that focus on effective teaching strategies. These strategies, when incorporated into instruction within individual classrooms, increases student achievement. University interns bring new ideas and teaching strategies to the classroom.
Students are always the benefactors of such introspective assessment.
Our before-school writing program and model writing lessons within individual classrooms have enhanced writing instruction for fourth grade students. The on-site coordinator provides leadership between university students and teachers in the school. As a result of this partnership, experienced classroom teachers begin to examine their own instructional practices, as well as those of the interns they supervise. GATE provides a strong setting for research and a willingness on the part of the staff to participate in that research. The staff is afforded many opportunities to learn new strategies and their impact on student achievement.