EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This document describes the work of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Institute for Urban Education (IUE), sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-System Administration, from 20182023. Now in its second decade, the IUE focuses on preparing culturally relevant teachers1 for careers in Wisconsin’s urban school districts where educationally marginalized children2 are experiencing critical teacher shortages. The mission of the IUE is to advance the field of urban education by recruiting, retaining, and promoting educators for children attending urban schools. This mission is accomplished through research, professional development, and clinical placement in urban school districts. The IUE serves schools and programs of education on all 13 UW-System campuses as well as urban school districts throughout the state with a concentration in Southeastern Wisconsin school districts3 .

The IUE’s work is funded through a grant from the University of Wisconsin-System (UW-System) that has been awarded in five-year increments since 2007. The departure of the IUE Director in 2017 stimulated a major program revision in 2018, led by UW-System Administration and UWMilwaukee. The most recent award was for the contracted grant cycle of 2018-2023. Although the grant was awarded in 2018, no staff were hired, and no significant activities occurred until 2019-20. A new director was hired in January 2020 to lead the redesigned program, which was fully implemented in Fall 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This revision recentered the program's three major functions: 1) Engaging in research-practice partnerships, 2) supporting the ongoing professional development of pre-service and in-service teachers, and 3) developing clinical placements in school districts where students experience unequal access to quality teachers. Since reopening, the IUE has accomplished the majority of its annual goals. Highlights include the following:

• Officially established as an institute at UW-Milwaukee • Formed university partnerships with five of the largest urban districts in Wisconsin • Made clinical placement for 120 education majors from 12 of the 13 UW-System campuses4 • Annual pre-service and in-service professional development for partner districts • Annual equity conference serving 1000 statewide, national, and international educators • Research program in literacy and teacher retention to address education disparities

1 The IUE applies Ladson-Billings (1995) model of culturally relevant pedagogy to research, professional development, and clinical placement. 2 According to a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report, “Marginalization in education is a form of acute and persistent disadvantage rooted in underlying social inequalities” (UNESCO, 2010, p. 135). 3 The IUE was charged with forming relationships with districts identified by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) as having critical teacher shortages. These include the school districts of Milwaukee, Racine, Green Bay, Madison, West Allis-West Milwaukee, Waukesha, Janesville, Kenosha, and Beloit. Currently, the IUE places students in four of these districts located in Southeast Wisconsin: Milwaukee, Racine, West Allis-West Milwaukee, and Waukesha. 4 Data collected from 2018-2023