EMU Student Center
THE EMU EDUCATION SUMMIT:
BUILDING STRONG URBAN SCHOOLS
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We are excited to have urban educators, state leaders,
university faculty, and other interested individuals
together on campus as we all learn more about what
is working in urban schools today. The speakers and
topics presented showcase the best of current urban
educational practices and innovation. Today’s event
also allows all of the participants many opportunities to
engage in professional dialogue about the best ways to
move forward and build on our current successes. Eastern
Michigan University seeks to be at the heart of improving
urban education in Michigan. I hope today’s conference
provides a renewed confirmation of the legacy of
collaboration between urban schools and EMU.
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Interim President
Provost and Executive Vice President
The College of Education at Eastern Michigan
University along with EMU’s Interim President and
Provost Kim Schatzel are very excited to sponsor
today’s event. We have a long-standing commitment
to urban education. Everyone is aware of the
profound challenges of urban education, urban
schools, urban students, urban families, and urban
communities. Today’s event allows the people who
are working and living in urban settings, university
faculty, and state and local leaders to talk about their
successes and the approaches that are working. All
of today’s participants bring expertise to the table
and the sum of our knowledge and enthusiasm for
quality urban schools is much more than what each
of us brings individually. We hope the friendships and
collaborations we form or enhance today will facilitate
on-going cooperation in improving urban education.
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Dean
College of Education
567$%6819:
EMU Urban Teacher of the Year
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41%(*1()5('2(%67)89-,3%*&,).'66#*,&:);$0''3The English Language Learning (ELL)
students in Ypsilanti Community
Schools are from 29 different
countries, speaking more than 25
languages. When ELL students come
to Ypsilanti, they’re confronted with
an urban‐based program serving
an under-privileged population.
Fortunately, they experience one
of the finest English Language
programs in the country, thanks to
the work of Elizabeth (Liz) Sirman
and other dedicated professionals
in the Ypsilanti Community Schools
(YCS.) Ms. Sirman came to the YCS
upon completion of her TESOL
(Teachers of English to Speakers
calls in the families’ native languages,
of Other Languages) Masters from
she personally invites families to
EMU in 2005. She quickly set to work
conferences and school functions,
to improve the ELL program. She
and provides translation whenever
pushed to acquire materials that
necessary.
promoted content‐based English
For the past two years, Liz has
and designed her program based
partnered with community activist,
on the Michigan English Language
Felipe Riaño, University of Michigan’s
Proficiency Standards. Today her ELL
Dr. Mikel Llanes, and the Washtenaw
program is based on the Common
County Public Health Department to
Core Standards as well as the WIDA
develop the Youth Weavers of Society
(World‐class Instructional Design and
program at the High School, which
Assessment) Standards, insuring that
exists to “test and evaluate
the students receive
innovative strategies to
the strongest
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assist Latino adolescents
curriculum possible.
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in increasing self-worth,
Her expertise is
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sense of empowerment,
evident in the fact
and hope both inside and
that she is in high
outside the classroom.” Of particular
demand as a model for
concern are pregnant teens and
pre‐student teachers.
students who are at risk of dropping
Colleagues note that one of Ms.
out. Youth Weavers meets weekly
Sirman’s greatest strengths is her
during the school year in Ms. Sirman’s
ability to connect with her students
classroom to address those issues—
and to build relationships. She builds
and to promote healthy eating, to
great trust with her students; they
overcome personal obstacles, and to
know that her door is always open;
develop youth leadership.
she provides extra academic support
For her amazing work, and for the
as needed, and students feel that
dramatic impact she has made and
they can share with her difficult
continues to make in our community,
personal and social challenges. Her
Liz Sirman is the winner of the
classroom continues to be a haven
inaugural Eastern Michigan University
for ELL students; she connects with
Urban Teacher of the Year award.
students and their families on a
personal basis in her roles as teacher
and as the district K‐12 coordinator.
Ms. Sirman makes home visits, phone
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November 14, 2015
7:45 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast
(Grand Ballroom A at the EMU Student Center)
8:30 a.m.
Welcome
•
Dr. Michael McVey, EMU faculty member
•
Ms. Mary Treder Lang, Vice Chair, EMU Board of Regents
•
Dr. Kim Schatzel, EMU Interim President, Provost,
and Executive Vice President of Academic and
Student Affairs
•
Dr. Mike Sayler, EMU Dean of the College of Education
•
Mr. Brian Whiston, State Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Michigan Department of Education
•
Review of day’s schedule (Dr. McVey)
•
Announcement of EMU Urban Teacher of the Year
and presentation (Dr. Schatzel)
Educating Beyond the Classroom: Connecting
with Students, Families, and Communities
Ms. Liz Sirman, Educator and District
Coordinator of the English Language Learner
Program, Ypsilanti Community Schools
9:25 - 10:25 Breakout sessions A
10: 30 - 11:30 Breakout sessions B
11:45 - 12:45 Lunch
•
Entertainment provided by Ypsilanti Community
Schools’ very own, Mateo and Ayo Bowles
1:00 - 2:00 Breakout sessions C
2:05 - 3:00 Processing session/special treats for attendees
3:00 Adjourn
Professional
Strand
Room
Location
Breakout Sessions A
9:25-10:25am
Breakout Sessions B
10:30-11:30am
Breakout Sessions C
1:00-2:00 pm
Listening to
Students:
Voices that
Matter
Grand
Ballroom
B
A Conversation with the
Student Ambassadors
of the Cody-Detroit
Institute of Technology
Integrating Restorative
Practices with
Authentic Positive
Behavior Support and
Proven Instructional
Methods
MARS: The Voices of
Students and Teachers
of Color
Carrie Russell, Cody-Detroit
Institute of Technology
Deborah Harmon, Minority
Achievement Student Success,
Eastern Michigan University
Bill Sower, The Christopher
& Virginia Sower Center for
Successful Schools
The Political
Landscape
of Urban
Education
Urban
Education
that Works
310 A
Making Michigan a Top
10 State in 10 Years
Brian Whiston, Michigan State
Superintendent of Public
Instruction
310 B
What’s Working Here –
Lessons from a Detroit
School
Rachele DiMeglio Adam, Teach
for America, Detroit
Developing
Cultural
Competency
Changing
Paradigms
352
Second Career Teachers:
Education and Support
Johnnetta Ricks, Eastern Michigan
University, Monique A. Lake,
Ypsilanti Community Schools,
Erika McBurrows, Michigan
Department of Transportation,
Janine Scott, Davis Aerospace
Technical High School
320
The Power of Principal
Mentoring in Urban
Schools
Community Allies
as Resources for
Excellence
Billie Christian, Executive
Director for Children’s Aid
Society, Detroit, Mary Margaret
Sweeten, Retired Detroit
Educator, Dr. Pat WilliamsBoyd, Professor, Eastern
Michigan University
Creating Coalitions
to Support SchoolCommunity
Partnerships
330
Changing Definitions of
Success: Novel-Writing
in the Curriculum
Angela Knight King, Eastern
Michigan Writing Project and
Hamtramck Public Schools
Grand
Ballroom
A
The Urban Utopia:
Closing the Gap Between
Research and Practice
Concetta Lewis, Ann Arbor
Public Schools, Noncy Fields
and Sima Thurman, Ypsilanti
Community Schools
Dean Mike Sayler, Eastern
Michigan University
EMU/Urban Schools
Partnership: A Proposal
Sarah Lorenz, EMU/Eastern
Michigan Writing Project
Justin Schott, EcoWorks & Ethan
Lowenstein, Southeast Michigan
Stewardship Coalition, Eastern
Michigan University
You Can’t Teach What
You Don’t Know:
Developing Cultural
Competency in
Educators
Deborah Harmon, Minority
Achievement Student Success,
Eastern Michigan University
Youth Weaver of Society 3D
Felipe Riano, Youth Leader
Molly Funk, Core School
Solutions, LLC, Cara CottrellBooms, Rainbow Elementary
Clintondale Community Schools
Building on
Successful
Programs
Urban Teacher
Pathways Plan
Developing and
Leading Culturally
Responsive Teacher
Leaders
Matt Mangan, Denby High
School, Detroit Public Schools
Hip-Hop Education
and Black American
Centered Curriculum
James Miller, AAYMPI, EAA
of Michigan
Paired Placements
and Co-Teaching: The
Benefits for Students
and Teachers in all
Schools
Cultural Relevance
in Urban Education:
Narratives of Social
Justice, and Activist
Research.
Barrie Frankel, Leah Van Belle,
Kathleen Crawford-McKinney,
Lori Lucas, Gretchen Pitt-Sykes,
Wayne State University, Kevin
Frankel, Beaumont Farmington
Hills Clinic System
John Field, Doctoral Student,
Dr. Steve Wellinski, Eastern
Michigan University, Russ
Bellant, and Dr. Tom Pedroni,
Wayne State University
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Making Michigan a Top 10
State in 10 Years
Brian Whiston, Michigan State
Superintendent of Public Instruction
A Conversation with the Student
Ambassadors of the Detroit Institute of
Technology
Carrie Russell, Cody-Detroit Institute of
Technology
What’s Working Here – Lessons from a
Detroit School
Rachele DiMeglio Adam, Teach for America,
Detroit
Second Career Teachers: Education and
Support
Johnnetta Ricks, Eastern Michigan
University, Monique Lake, Ypsilanti
Community Schools, Erika McBurrows,
Michigan Department of Technology, and
Janine Scott, Davis Aerospace Technical
High School
The Power of Principal Mentoring in
Urban Schools
Molly Funk, Eastern Michigan University/
Core School Solutions, LLC, Cara CottrellBooms, Rainbow Elementary Clintondale
Community Schools
Changing Definitions of Success: NovelWriting in the Curriculum
Angela Knight King, Eastern Michigan
Writing Project and Hamtramck Public
Schools
The Urban Utopia: Closing the Gap
Between Research and Practice
Concetta Lewis, Ann Arbor Public Schools,
Noncy Fields and Sima Thurman, Ypsilanti
Community Schools
Come to this session to learn more about state superintendent’s
vision for making Michigan’s P-20 educational system one of the
top 10 in the country.
Student ambassadors from the Cody-Detroit Institute of
Technology will lead a panel discussion with the audience about
their educational experiences in DPS. They will focus on the
positive successes they have seen in their school and district, as
well as some frustration they feel over the current educational
environment. Their goal will be to provide audience members
with some tangible ways they can help to support students in
the city. We encourage participates to attend who want to hear
directly from students in Detroit.
Much is made of systemic failures in the Detroit school
system. Yet, there are many examples of schools raising
expectations and achievement. This session will expose Summit
attendees to this by featuring an administrator, teacher, and
student at one Detroit school. The panelists will discuss how
they are working together to support student achievement,
highlighting the ups and downs of this ongoing journey. After
briefly presenting, the panelists will engage in a dialogue with
audience members around what academic excellence can look
like in our schools – not years down the line when the system is
“fixed” - but today.
This session will be a panel discussion consisting of four
2nd career urban teachers. These professionals will share
experiences during their 1st careers, teacher preparation
programs, and current careers as teachers. The interconnections
of these experiences will be discussed with stakeholders
making recommendations for teacher preparation, professional
development, and support for the 2nd career teacher.
In this informational session, participants will learn about the
Power of Principal Mentoring from a Nationally Certified Principal
Mentor (NAESP) and a principal mentee. They will share the
benefits of using a standards based approach to effectively
leading learning communities in an urban school and actively
engage participants with the standards. Additionally, participants
will learn and discuss the challenges of the urban principalship
and how the support of a principal mentor increases principal and
teacher effectiveness, job satisfaction, and retention.
By sharing my stories about challenging students in grades
3-12 to write novels in 30 days with the National Novel Writing
Month Young Writers Program, my hope is that participants will
understand another aspect of positivism in public schools and
possibly be challenged to write their own stories.
In this session, experienced educators will share highlights of
how they have successfully bridged the gap between theory and
practice through an effective collaboration aimed at preparing
urban educators.
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Community Allies as Resources for
Excellence
Billie Christian, Executive Director for
Children’s Aid Society, Detroit, Mary
Margaret Sweeten, Retired Detroit Educator,
Dr. Pat Williams-Boyd, Professor, Eastern
Michigan University
Integrating Restorative Practices with
Authentic Positive Behavior Support and
Proven Instructional Methods
Bill Sower, The Christopher & Virginia Sower
Center for Successful Schools
Creating Coalitions to Support SchoolCommunity Partnerships
Justin Schott, EcoWorks & Ethan Lowenstein,
Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition,
Eastern Michigan University
You Can’t Teach What You Don’t Know:
Developing Cultural Competency in
Educators
Dr. Deborah Harmon, Minority Achievement
Student Success, Eastern Michigan
University
Youth Weaver of Society 3D
Felipe Riano, Youth Leader
“What do you mean I’m going to coteach with another intern for student
teaching?”: Paired Internships as a
Model for the Preparation of Effective
Urban Educators: Learning from Clinical
Medical Education
Dr. Leah van Belle, Dr. Kathleen CrawfordMcKinney, Lori Lucas, Barrie Frankel,
Gretchen Pitt-Sykes, Wayne State University
& Dr. Kevin Frankel, Beaumont Farmington
Hills Clinic System
Poverty, socio-economic class and deprivation account for poor
performances in school to the extent that young people from
poor families are three times more likely to drop out of school.
Alone, neither schools nor communities can address all needs
given the changes in demographics, economics, politics and
social welfare; alone they cannot help children become successful
students and productive citizens. However, collaboratively they
can offer a quality, equitable education at the same site in which
access to requisite health and human, social and cultural services
for children and families are provided. This workshop addresses
how to collaboratively advocate and broker services for kids and
their families.
The session will describe the concomitant relationship between
academic achievement and student behavior. It will suggest that
a research-validated approach involves a concentrated focus on
both areas simultaneously. Participants will understand this vital
relationship and consider how Restorative Practices can align with
a relational approach to positive behavior support (as opposed
to a programmatic, rewards & punishments approach) and with a
logical blending of explicit, direct instruction and inquiry learning
to boost achievement. Outcomes from several Michigan districts
will be considered, including Roseville Schools, Saginaw Schools,
and Hamtramck Schools.
What if the school became the center of the community?
Community partnerships have been seen as one ingredient in
the development of successful schools in Detroit and other urban
areas. Not long ago, schools were valued as anchors in their
surrounding neighborhoods and the community played an integral
role in educating its children. How can we reconnect schools
and communities? What kind of partnerships, networks, and
coalitions help to support both teachers and communities? In this
panel discussion, educators from the EcoWorks and the Southeast
Michigan Stewardship Coalition discuss place-based education as a
promising approach to school and community change
As the public school population continues to be more diverse
with a teaching force that is not, it is now imperative that
we include the development of cultural competency in the
preparation of teachers and in school districts’ professional
development. This presentation will discuss ways developing
cultural competency can occur in professional development for
educators. Presenters have worked with school districts over the
country facilitating the development of cultural competency and
will share their experiences and recommendations.
This session will inform about the purpose of the JTS3D project,
what we found on the last year research, its impact in the Latino
community, and its future.
Professional fields train new practitioners through a variety of
models. This interactive session will explore how urban teacher
preparation programs can learn from the medical training model
to more effectively prepare interns in clinical settings to best meet
the needs of P-12 learners. We share our experience implementing
paired placements in urban schools from the perspectives of teaching
interns, field instructors, mentor teachers, school administrators,
clinical education faculty, and medical education faculty. Questions
explored will include: How can interns, mentor teachers, and field
instructors benefit from co-teaching? How do we support them in
working in paired placements? How can universities develop stronger
partnerships with urban P-12 schools using this model?
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Urban Teacher Pathways Plan
Dean Mike Sayler, Eastern Michigan
University
MARS: The Voices of Students and
Teachers of Color
Dr. Deborah Harmon, Minority
Achievement Student Success, Eastern
Michigan University
EMU/Urban Schools Partnership: A
Proposal
Sarah Lorenz, EMU/Eastern Michigan
Writing Project
Developing and Leading Culturally
Responsive Teacher Leaders
Matt Mangan, Denby High School, Detroit
Public Schools
Hip Hop Education and Black American
Centered Curriculum
James Miller, AAYMPI, EAA of Michigan
Cultural Relevance in Urban Education:
Narratives of Social Justice, and Activist
Research.
John Field, Doctoral Student, Dr. Steve
Wellinski, Eastern Michigan University, Russ
Bellant, and Dr. Tom Pedroni, Wayne State
University
The Urban Teachers Pathway Plan is a grow-your-own collaboration
between urban schools and Eastern Michigan University. Teachers
who grow up in a school or community and return to that school or
community are more likely to be successful and stay in the school as
a teacher. The Pathways Plan schools identify students who want to
be educators while still in high school. Qualifying students receive
expedited admission to EMU and scholarships each year they are at
enrolled successfully at EMU. At graduation the home school commits
to offering the new Pathways teacher a job – provided one is available
at that time.
Learn what barriers and obstacles African American students in
teacher preparation programs face and how they successfully in
completed their program. Graduates of the MARS program will
discuss obstacles African American teachers and administrators face,
and how they were prepared and achieved success. Information on
successfully recruiting and retaining African American students and
teachers will be shared.
The Eastern Michigan Writing Project, based at EMU, has partnered
with school districts in southeastern Michigan for over twenty years
to provide professional development workshops and coaching,
with a wide range of experience in urban schools. Drawing upon
that experience as well as from successful turnaround models and
top-performing school systems around the world, EMWP proposes
a new model of partnership between a local urban district and EMU.
This partnership would include significant opportunities for field
experiences for preservice teachers, well-scaffolded student teaching
placements, teacher residencies, positioning graduates as “ready to
teach,” a reciprocal university-district PD relationship, and a pipeline
for diverse recruitment into the teaching profession. EMU faculty and
K-12 educators are invited to discuss the proposal and their ideas for a
dynamic university-K12 partnership.
This session provides specific culturally responsive coaching
techniques that would allow a school or team to pivot their focus to
being more culturally competent educators. These methods center on
instructional coaching, staff professional development and ongoing
teacher reflection that emphasizes equity. Participants will leave
with the ability to better coach their teachers, build effective staff
professional development and measure progress.
Too many people are unclear as to what Hip Hop really is and tend
to use the term frivolously. At its core, Hip Hop is so much more than
mere art and entertainment. "Hip Hop is the constantly evolving
spirit and consciousness of urban youth that keeps recreating itself
in a never-ending cycle". There are large segments of hip-hop culture
being used as a form of education and empowerment. Hip hop is one
of the many elements that came out of the Black American experience
like blues, jazz, gospel, and many other expressions, that created an
identity for a generation of Black-Americans who sought to be free
from racial, economic, and political oppression. The origins of hip hop
most certainly stretch back to the continent of Africa.
The panel will explore the state of culturally relevant education
and activist research in urban education, as related through the
experiences of the panel members. The discussion will include
questions about community involvement, public policy, and social
justice in urban centers such as Detroit, and in the State of Michigan.
Through the narratives of the panel we will attempt to shed light on
the current political policy, as well as the prospects for community
involvement and activist research in the future. The framework of the
discussion will also examine the importance of personal narratives
and life stories for the advocates of social justice as related to urban
education. The discussion will include a guided overview of social
justice and activist research, followed by personal narratives, with time
allotted for audience participation.
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Reginald Barnes, EMU Diversity Director
Lakesha Barton, Ypsilanti Community
Schools, teacher
Edwynn Bell, Detroit Leadership
Academy, principal
Audrey Bernard, EMU faculty
Wendy Burke, EMU Director of Student
Teaching and faculty
Corey Chavis, Director of Community
Partnerships, Equity Education
Cathy Fleischer, EMU faculty
Noncy Fields, Holmes Elementary School,
Ypsilanti, teacher
Regina George, Director of the College of
Education’s Office of UCIO
LaToya Hall-King, Cody–Detroit Institute
of Technology, Principal
Reginald Hammond, Jr.
EMU graduate student
Deborah Harmon, EMU faculty
Lawrence Hood, Executive Director for
Achievement Network
Martha Kinney-Sedgwick, EMU
Department Head of Teacher Education
and faculty
Beth Kubitskey, EMU COE Associate
Dean and faculty
Nelson Maylone, EMU faculty
Kier McLemore, Convenient
Commitment Initiative
Michael McVey, EMU faculty
Scott Menzel, Washtenaw Intermediate
School District Superintendent
Alicia Meriweather, Detroit Public
Schools, Executive Director for the Office of
Curriculum
Sandy Morey Norton, EMU faculty
Quinton Myers, Jalen Rose Academy,
Detroit, teacher
Felipe Riano, Ypsilanti activist, Latino
youth
Johnnetta Ricks, EMU university
supervisor and doctoral student
Carrie Russell, Cody-Detroit Institute of
Technology, teacher
Michelle Peet, Ypsilanti/Early College
Alliance teacher
Theresa Saunders, EMU faculty
Tiffany Taylor, Teach for America,
Executive Director
Connie Thompson, Perry Early Learning
Center, Ypsilanti Community Schools,
principal
Bill Tucker, EMU faculty
Jeremy Vidito, Executive Director of
Strategic Planning & New Schools, Starr
Educational Services
Kerry Williams, Renaissance High School,
Detroit, teacher
Pat Williams-Boyd, EMU faculty
Kyndrea Wilson, EMU student
Summit planners apologize for any spelling or
affiliation errors in above listings.