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This study offers implications for remote mentoring within school university partnerships based on a qualitative study focused on how three experienced mentor teachers within a long-standing Professional Development School (PDS) partnership adapted to remote mentoring during emergency remote teaching in the 2020–2021 school year.

Data was collected through interviews with three teachers and analyzed following qualitative methods to identify themes. Data is presented in case studies describing their remote mentoring practices.

Findings indicate that in the context of strong school–university partnerships, these mentor teachers were successful in adapting their mentoring of teacher candidates to a remote modality and that the benefits to collaborators within the partnership were like those documented in traditional, in-person mentorship. The challenges these teachers overcame include establishing relationships and providing adequate supervision.

The results offer rich insights into the experiences of mentor teachers when conditions necessitate a change in instructional modality and create implications for innovation in mentorship of teacher candidates, particularly in remote mentorship settings.

School–university partnerships should be maintained during emergencies because of the benefits to all partners, most notably to prek-5 students. We recommend that articulated agreements be revisited and modified to address potential future emergencies. The value of establishing and maintaining strong PDS partnerships should not be undervalued during times of emergency.

Teacher preparation programs can sustain the important work of educating teachers through challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic most effectively when they work in partnership with prek-12 schools. Use of technology in innovative ways, such as remote mentoring, can support teacher preparation when in-person clinical experiences are limited.

This study offers initial data on remote mentoring, an innovative mentoring approach which has, to this point, been the subject of limited empirical investigation. Additionally, as remote educational opportunities for prek-5 learners increase, teacher preparation programs may choose to utilize remote mentoring in PDS programming, making this data of particular value.

This manuscript examines how university coaches can use the Classroom Check-Up (CCU; Reinke et al., 2008) to support continuous school improvement efforts around teacher practice within a PDS model and how collaboration between university faculty can increase their coaching self-efficacy.

The paper is conceptual in that it presents an innovative idea to stimulate discussion, generate new ideas, and advance thinking about supporting educator coaching efficacy in school-university partnerships.

The paper provides insights and ideas for using a collaborative faculty coaching model based on the CCU (Reinke et al., 2008). Each coach provides insight about adapting the model to fit teacher, school, and district needs. Moreover, coaches report on how collaborating impacted their coaching self-efficacy.

This paper fulfills an identified need to support continuous school improvement efforts amid a teaching shortage using a collaborative faculty coaching model. Moreover, the authors explore “coaching self-efficacy” as a rare but valuable construct that is impacted by peer feedback.

This paper will discuss one university’s efforts to initiate a process to better support PK-12 continuous school improvement goals for all 13 schools in their PDS network as a way to broaden the university’s mission and respond more formally to the individual school communities with which they partner.

The paper is conceptual in that it presents an innovative idea to stimulate discussion, generate new ideas and advance thinking about cross-institutional collaboration between universities and professional development schools.

The paper provides insights and ideas for bringing about change and growth in a seasoned PDS partnership network by connecting PK-12 continuous school improvement efforts to PDS partnership work.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how seasoned partnerships can participate in simultaneous renewal by offering ideas that school–university partnership leaders can build upon as they make efforts to participate in the process of growth and change.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to define and explore the roles of mentors, the responsibilities and even misconceptions of their position in partnership schools, the characteristics of effective mentors, the gaps that exist in current mentor training and the need for updated and forward-thinking flexible and accessible mentor training as it relates to improvements in University Teacher Preparation Programs and their partnership schools.

The authors detail the process of interviewing a diverse population of mentors and teacher candidates (TCs) who have participated in our professional development (partnership) schools. See Appendices A and B for parallel questions posed during each interview process. Following the interviews, data were gathered in both text and video-based formats to create mentor training video modules to improve the current state of mentor training in our program. Themes were identified following an analysis of both interview intakes, and modules were created to align with these themes.

Following the first rounds of implementation, the authors have reflected and noted that a need for an even more diverse population of both mentors and interns to be interviewed is necessary moving forward. The authors do note an appreciation by mentors and university partners in the quality, flexibility and accessibility that this new video module-based mentor training program provides.

The video-based mentor training modules that the authors detail honor the needs of both new and returning mentors. Via the interviews with teacher candidates, mentors are able to empathize and understand how to be better mentors to their future TCs. Via the scenarios and questions that follow each thematically driven module, mentors are able to independently reflect on their current practices and ways to improve their roles. At any point in the internship year, mentors can return to the video training modules to review and thus improve their practice.

Mentors, university supervisors, teacher candidates and site coordinators (those individuals who identify mentors in their buildings) note improvement in their ability to communicate effectively as a result of being presented with video modules and reflections about the role of mentors from both mentors and TCs.

The authors were called on by leadership in the College of Education at the University to create this original mentor training video module. It is unique to the College of Education at the University. Great value exists in its accessibility, adaptability (we can upload new videos at any time) and representation of both the mentor and TC perceptions, suggestions and experiences in our program.

Integrating sustainability into university curricula brings diverse challenges and conflicts as separate units vie for ownership of courses and topics. This case study presents a six dimensions sustainability framework developed at The Ohio State University to organize curricula under an inclusive strategy.

An interdisciplinary group of faculty focused on sustainability education engaged in a three-phased process including review of sustainability definitions from diverse disciplines; analysis of key aspects of the definitions in conjunction with course descriptions and learning outcomes; and identification of commonalities across the key aspects. This yielded six foundational dimensions of sustainability which serve as a means to assess curricular contributions across University units and topics. The six dimensions framework has been used in practice in multiple contexts.

The six dimensions framework provides a way to identify and foster diverse sustainability curricula efforts. It has enabled academic units to describe their disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives on diverse sustainability topics and the University to advance a broad sustainability vision.

The six dimensions framework provides a novel “big tent” approach to integration of sustainability into higher education curricula. The framework provides guidance about what counts as sustainability while maintaining the breadth that widens participation.

Digital Humanities is a robust area of research and practice at universities and their libraries across the world. This case study investigates the unique DH practices of seven US academic libraries to provide insights into how varied academic libraries operate their DH programs.

Semi-structured interviews with nine library staff in DH or DH-adjacent positions at seven US academic libraries were used to investigate library DH practices.

This case study highlighted key areas of academic library DH practices including Space, Technology, Staff, Instruction and Collaboration. Practices in these areas were compared against each other and literature to comment on the current state of DH library practices and offer some recommendations for select areas.

This case study interviewed staff in a limited number of US libraries and is not generalizable to or a reflection of the many academic libraries in the US or across the world.

The juxtaposition of multiple libraries’ DH activities provides a unique perspective on academic library DH practice, as many studies investigate only a single library as their subject.

In 2022, the Baltimore professional development school (PDS) partner schools, John Ruhruh Elementary/Middle School (JREMS) and Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) received funds through a Maryland Educational Emergency Revitalization (MEER) grant to determine (a) to what extent additional resources and professional development would increase JREMS teachers’ efficacy in technology integration and (b) to what extent NDMU professional development in the form of workshops and self-paced computer science modules would result in greater use of technology in the JREMS K-8 classrooms. Results indicated a statistically significant improvement in both teacher comfort with technology and integrated use of technology in instruction.

Survey data were collected on teacher-stated comfort with technology before and after grant implementation. Teachers’ use of technology was also measured by unannounced classroom visits by administration before and after the grant implementation and through artifacts teachers submitted during NDMU professional development modules.

Results showing significant increases in self-efficacy with technology along with teacher integration of technology exemplify the benefits of a PDS partnership.

This initiative was original in its approach to teacher development by replacing required teacher professional development with an invitation to participate and an incentive for participation (a personal MacBook) that met the stated needs of teachers. Teacher motivation was strong because teammates in a strong PDS partnership provided the necessary supports to induce changes in teacher self-efficacy.

This paper shares findings from a multi-year literacy professional development partnership between a school district and university (2014–2019). We share this case of a Literacy Cohort initiative as an example of cross-institutional professional development situated within several of NAPDS’ nine essentials, including professional learning and leading, boundary-spanning roles and reflection and innovation (NAPDS, 2021).

We asked, “In what ways did the Cohort initiative create conditions for community and collaboration in the service of meaningful literacy reforms?” Drawing on social design methodology (Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2010), we sought to generate and examine the educational change associated with this multi-year initiative. Our data set included programmatic data, interviews (N = 30) and artifacts of literacy teaching, learning and leading.

Our findings reflect the emphasis areas that are important to educators in the partnership: diversity by design, building relationships through collaboration and rooting literacy reforms in teacher leadership. Our discussion explores threads of reciprocity, simultaneous renewal and boundary-spanning leadership and their role in sustaining partnerships over time.

This paper contributes to our understanding of building and sustaining a cohort model of multi-year professional development through the voices, perspectives and experiences of teachers, faculty and district administrators.

Most teacher preparation programs (TPP) provide little instruction on mitigating the stress-related consequences of teaching (Miller and Flint-Stipp, 2019). This study aims to provide empirical support for including a self-care unit in teacher preparation curricula to address the secondary trauma and stressors inherent to the teaching profession (Essential 2; NAPDS, 2021; Sutcher et al., 2019).

This investigation occurred in an elementary TPP at a private southeastern US university and spanned two years, utilizing a mixed methods approach.

Findings suggest that after experiencing a 5-week self-care unit, preservice teachers exhibited a statistically significant increase in well-being and a newfound recognition of the need to prioritize self-care for effective teaching, suggesting its potential effectiveness in reducing burnout and attrition.

While this study provided valuable insights into the implementation and impact of a self-care unit within the context of elementary education majors at a mid-sized private university in the USA, it is essential to acknowledge its limitations. One notable limitation is the relatively homogenous sample, primarily consisting of White female participants.

The implications of this study are critical for teacher education policy and practice, advocating for including self-care curricula to enhance teacher well-being and, by extension, prepare teachers with a skillset to support their career trajectory (Essential 3; NAPDS, 2021).

This recommendation underscores the collaborative efforts between TPPs and partnership schools to implement such initiatives effectively, representing a pivotal step toward better-preparing teachers to manage the demands of their profession while prioritizing their mental health (Essentials 4 & 5; NAPDS, 2021).

Authorities have set up numerous security checkpoints during times of armed conflict to control the flow of commercial and humanitarian trucks into and out of areas of conflict. These security checkpoints have become highly utilized because of the complex security procedures and increased truck traffic, which significantly slow the delivery of relief aid. This paper aims to improve the process at security checkpoints by redesigning the current process to reduce processing time and relieve congestion at checkpoint entrance gates.

A decision-support tool (clearing function distribution model [CFDM]) is used to minimize the effects of security checkpoint congestion on the entire humanitarian supply network using a hybrid simulation-optimization approach. By using a business process simulation, the current and reengineered processes are both simulated, and the simulation output was used to estimate the clearing function (capacity as a function of the workload). For both the AS-IS and TO-BE models, key performance indicators such as distribution costs, backordering and process cycle time were used to compare the results of the CFDM tool. For this, the Kerem Abu Salem security checkpoint south of Gaza was used as a case study.

The comparison results demonstrate that the CFDM tool performs better when the output of the TO-BE clearing function is used.

The efforts will contribute to improving the planning of any humanitarian network experiencing congestion at security checkpoints by minimizing the impact of congestion on the delivery lead time of relief aid to the final destination.