Saint Paul Public Schools and Hamline University forge partnership for teacher recruitment and training program

Saint Paul Public Schools and Hamline University forge partnership for teacher recruitment and training program
4/25/2008 3:55 PM

Media Release

Office of Community Relations
Contact: Howie Padilla (651) 767-8104

April 25, 2008

Saint Paul, Minn – Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) and the Saint Paul Teaching Fellows are pleased to announce a partnership with Hamline University to inspire and educate dozens of the school district’s future educational leaders.

Hamline University will provide licensure course work and training for the Teaching Fellows while working with SPPS to coordinate intensive training this summer to prepare the Fellows for the classroom.

“Hamline University is known for and has been dedicated to quality teacher preparation,” said Candace Burns, dean of the Hamline University Graduate School of Education. “We are honored that the district has selected us as their partner to address teacher shortages in critical needs areas. We look forward to this new partnership and to providing a rigorous, high quality program of study for the talented individuals who have been selected as Teaching Fellows.”

Following this summer’s training, Fellows will begin teaching full-time in September while continuing work to earn their Minnesota Full Professional Education Licensure at Hamline University. Fellows are required to be continually enrolled in and successfully complete all required Hamline University coursework towards licensure within two years.

“Saint Paul Public Schools and Hamline University have formed strong partnerships that produce high quality teachers,” said SPPS Executive Director of Human Resources Teresa Rogers. “The district now teams with Hamline to ensure that same success with the Teaching Fellows.”

Saint Paul Teaching Fellows is a unique approach to raising academic achievement by recruiting highly qualified individuals from a variety of professional and academic backgrounds to make a difference where they are needed most – in the classroom. This year, the program received 638 applications to fill the 30-50 critical teacher openings in math, science, bilingual education and special education.

Saint Paul Teaching Fellows is a partnership between SPPS, Hamline University, U.S. Department of Education, through the Transition to Teaching grant, and the New Teacher Project, a national non-profit organization that works with school districts, states and other educational entities to enhance their capacity to recruit, select and train outstanding new teachers.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information regarding this partnership and other items related to the Saint Paul Teaching Fellows, please contact Site Manager Norah Barrett at (651) 767-8198.