The TRUST(Training and Retaining Urban Student Teachers) Initiative is a comprehensive partnership to redefine the preparation and retention of teachers for urban settings like Birmingham. Many teachers in urban schools leave teaching early or migrate to suburban districts. A local and national approach to teacher training and staff development will provide the environment in which young teachers can first survive and then contribute to increased student achievement that empowers students to reach their full potential.
There are four stages to the project: 1) Enhancement of the educational environment of two high schools and their shared feeder system, and adding a third high school and its feeder system 2) recruitment of students at UAB and paraprofessionals in BCS for an Urban Teacher Enhancement (UTE) program; 3) establishment of a collaborative and continuous professional development environment by co-training BCS master teachers, UAB faculty, and UAB student teachers through approaches used by NUA and the College Board; and 4) preserve and sustain TRUST participants by enrolling new and early career teachers in the feeder schools in the Alabama Teacher Training and Induction Network (ATTAIN), a five-year induction plan to retain teachers.
In addition to the 14 TRUST Schools, Birmingham City Schools Board of Education has extended NUA professional development to ten schools. |
