Chapter 12: Maintaining and Sustaining Long-Term Collaborative Partnerships: Illinois State University’s Middle Level Teacher Education Program

This chapter describes and discusses Illinois State University’s middle level teacher education program and the school partnerships that form the clinical experiences for our teacher candidates. As a well-established middle level teacher preparation program, Illinois State University has a long history of sustainable partnerships with local middle level schools and districts. Teacher candidates participate in a variety of clinical experiences throughout their undergraduate teacher education. In addition to classroom observations, teacher candidates are actively involved in a variety of classroom-based experiences, including coplanning, instruction, and assessment. Clinical experiences also include a variety of other components such as community-based observations, volunteering, and tutoring. During the first semester of their senior year, teacher candidates participate in an intensive, full-time, 4-week clinical experience in a local middle level school. The culminating experience is the 16-week student teaching semester where teacher candidates are expected to plan, implement, and coordinate curriculum, instruction, and assessment that is developmentally responsive to the unique needs of young adolescents.