Chapter 6: The Partnership for Instructional Excellence and Quality (PIE–Q)

It has been well documented that school/university partnerships are fraught with challenges in terms of cultures, relationships, perspectives, and risks (Patterson, Michelli, & Pacheco, 1999). However, encouraged by recent research and lessons learned from the field of medicine, the partnership described in this chapter is founded on the belief that networks of schools, systematically supported by the school district, the university, and unions, can have an impact on them. The Partnership for Instructional Excellence and Quality is the story of a university, a teachers union, and an urban school district’s efforts to establish a sustained partnership to address many of the problems endemic to urban schools including poverty, racism, lack of high quality teachers, and student under-achievement.