CLINICAL PLACEMENT

OVERVIEW

The mission of the IUE Clinical Placement Program is to provide an urban clinical teaching experience for undergraduate teacher candidates from campuses across UW-System. The vision of the IUE Clinical Placement Program is that teacher candidates will be supported as they learn how to teach in urban settings and that, subsequently, they may choose urban districts in their initial teaching placements after graduation. The mission and vision are accomplished through partnerships with school districts in Southeast Wisconsin, student teaching and paid internships, and mentoring.

For a number of reasons, the clinical model proposed to UW-System in 2018 differs slightly from the model implemented by the IUE during the last five years. The main reason for the difference is the effect of the COVID-19 global pandemic on education. The pandemic affected everyone in profound ways and the IUE had to revise its plan in order to meet the needs of student teachers and interns who were navigating their clinical placement during the pandemic. Students worked remotely, community events were not held, and teacher candidates and their families were affected by the pandemic. Given these circumstances, the IUE’s revised clinical model currently offers the following: • Urban teaching clinical placements in four partner school districts in southeastern Wisconsin:

Racine Unified School District (RUSD), West Allis-West Milwaukee School District • (WAWM), Waukesha Public School, and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) • Student teaching or WIP internships for students from all UW-System campuses • $5000 stipends for interns

• The IUE does not charge its traditional $825 fee to students or campuses for supervising IUE teacher candidates • Orientation and induction for all candidates prior to beginning clinical placement • Cohort model with teacher candidates from multiple campuses • Bi-weekly cohort meetings about social justice and culturally relevant pedagogy • Strong mentor support from UW-affiliated supervisors, cooperating teachers, faculty, and IUE staff • Transition support for employment in partner school districts, including letters of recommendation, certificates of completion, and resume writing • Guaranteed interview for employment with the partner school district after successful completion of clinical placement

IUE SCHOLARS PROGRAM

The IUE Scholars Program was conducted for one semester in Summer 2020 with the goal of early recruitment of undergraduates interested in becoming teacher candidates. Four undergraduate students from UW-Madison and UWM participated in the summer experience and completed projects under the mentorship of the IUE team. Outcomes suggested that the scholars enjoyed the program and would have liked more time to work with their peers.

DISTRICT PARTNERSHIPS AND CLINICAL PLACEMENTS

Data on students’ clinical placements indicates continued interest in the IUE’s student teaching and internship placements. The interest continues despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical placement experiences of UW-System students. In this section, we describe the activities of the IUE’s clinical placement program.

• 2018-19: The IUE operated as the GUEST program under a federal grant awarded to UWM School of Education faculty. Thirty-one student teachers were placed in West Allis-West Milwaukee

School District, Milwaukee Public Schools, Waukesha Public Schools, and Wauwatosa Public

Schools. The GUEST program was operated by a program coordinator in partnership with the

UWM Office of Clinical Experience. The GUEST program and the IUE operated simultaneously for one academic year before the IUE absorbed the GUEST program in fall 2020.

• 2019-20: The IUE began its clinical program by approaching two districts about forming university-district partnerships with the IUE: Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) and Racine

Unified School District (RUSD). Due to district priorities, KUSD opted out of the partnership. • RUSD agreed to a formal partnership with the IUE beginning in the 2020-21 school year. A formal

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was agreed upon by RUSD, IUE, and UWM. The MOU specified $5000 paid internships for IUE students and described the research and professional development relationship between the IUE and RUSD.

• 2020-21: The IUE’s clinical placement program officially began in the 2020-21 academic year.

Interns were recruited from two campuses: UWM and UW-Oshkosh. In Fall 2020, six students formed the first cohort of interns in RUSD. Interns were placed in teams of two in three elementary

Community Schools in RUSD. In Spring 2021, the IUE merged with the GUEST program and gained additional students for both internship and student teaching positions. One intern from UW-

Milwaukee had a clinical placement in RUSD and five student teachers and interns from the

GUEST program had clinical placements in Waukesha, West Allis West Milwaukee, Milwaukee, and Racine school districts.

• 2021-22: During the 2020-21 school year, the IUE formed a formal university-district partnership with West Allis West Milwaukee (WAWM) school district. An MOU between WAWM, UWM, and the IUE specified $5000 paid internships for IUE students and described the research and professional development relationship between the IUE and RUSD. Additionally, in Summer • 2021, the IUE’s internship program became a Wisconsin Improvement Program (WIP) internship program and all 2021-22 teacher candidates in WAWM were WIP interns. All 2021-22 RUSDIUE teacher candidates became paid student teachers. Twenty-one (21) students formed the Fall 2021 cohort. Fourteen (14) students formed the Spring 2022 cohort.

• 2022-23: Twelve (12) students formed the Fall 2022 cohort, and seven (7) students formed the

Spring 2023 cohort.

CLINICAL PLACEMENTS

Campuses Served

UW-Milwaukee

UW-La Crosse

UW-Madison

UW-Stevens Point

UW-Oshkosh

UW-Parkside

UW-Platteville

UW-Whitewater

Certification and Clinical Placement Areas

Early childhood education Grades 1-4 ESL Grades K-5 High school art High school chemistry High school music High school physical education

University-District Partnerships

Racine West Allis-West Milwaukee Milwaukee Waukesha Wauwatosa

High school social studies Middle school science Middle school science Middle school special education Special education cross categorical Special education – elementary

MENTORING

The IUE clinical placement specialist – along with the IUE staff, clinical placement supervisors, campus-based clinical placement coordinators, and cooperating teachers – provides strategic support for teacher candidates. A critical component of the Institute’s mentoring program is a series of cohort meetings designed to engage candidates in discussions about being culturally relevant educators. Specifically, the IUE requires that all teacher candidates attend eight, bi-weekly cohort meetings focused on culturally relevant pedagogy during their semester placement with the IUE. IUE Clinical Specialist Amy Gutowski developed the sequence in order to allow students to have critical conversations in an environment of trust, support, and open communication. The sessions cover multiple topics based on culturally relevant practices as listed below.

TOPICS FOR CULTURALLY RELEVANT PRACTICES COHORT MEETINGS

Session Topic

1 Building relationships and creating community 2 Bias, deficit thinking, and funds of knowledge 3 Systems and equity, anti-racist, and social justice teaching 4 Standardized testing 5 Mass incarceration 6 School to prison, restorative justice, reimagining classroom management 7 Special education and immigration 8 Wrapping it all up