Alumni Profile

Many of us take our educations for granted, but just think how hard it would have been to stay in school if you had no permanent place to live. We’re not talking about college students — we’re talking about students in grade school, middle school, and high school. Youth On Their Own (YOTO) is a nonprofit organization that specializes in school dropout prevention for homeless and near-homeless children between the ages of 8 and 22.

YOTO has a long history of providing compassionate support in keeping teens off the streets and helping them realize their potential in life. Last year, YOTO assisted 519 students in more than 86 schools throughout Tucson and Pima County, with 163 students who graduated from high school. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Ann Young, one of our "pearls"

The College of Education is happy to let you know that the founder of YOTO is one of our very own grads. Ann Young — Class of 1969 — was a counselor at Amphitheater High School in 1986 when YOTO came to fruition. 

Young recalls, “Many of our students were living from couch to couch and struggling to stay in school. Some didn’t make it. I was desperate for a way to help them stabilize their living situation so that they could graduate with their class. My church announced a meeting to talk about helping Tucson’s homeless.

"I turned to my husband and told him that I was going to that meeting to share the story of Amphi’s homeless students. We had four teenaged girls in our home that morning, two of whom had no place to go had I not brought them home. My husband felt that we were never going to be through raising teenagers!

“One thing led to another and the church (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian) opened a home for our girls. We thought we wanted a home, but we learned a lot the two years it was open. It was too expensive, too energy draining, and too limited. What did work was placing the kids from the house we opened into volunteer homes, where they had one-to-one interactions. We started giving all of the volunteer parents $100 a month to help offset some of the costs. After two years, we closed the church home, but continued to provide what we began to call stipends to the youth in the program or to their volunteer parents. We started the stipend program in 1988.

"By that time, we were helping 50 students a year. The number of students we have been able to help has doubled every year until we reached a maximum of 500 in 1992 and 1993. Hundreds of volunteers and many individuals, churches, and service organizations provide encouragement, hours of volunteer labor, and much-needed financial resources. We base our success on the graduation of our students. They don’t disappoint us. About 85 percent of our students manage to graduate from high school with a helping hand from YOTO.

“I won't be satisfied until every student who can benefit can get help from YOTO so that staying in school until graduation becomes a reality for them. That may take twice as much money as we raise now for stipends, but I do believe it can be done.”

Somehow, we think Ann Young will make it happen! Here are just some of the things YOTO helps with:

• $125 monthly living expense stipend, based on school attendance and academic progress
• Special-needs assistance, such as rent, utilities, sports fees, and equipment
• School enrollment
• Transportation
• Finding alternative housing
• Finding employment
• Free medical and dental care from volunteer practitioners
• Basic needs such as food, clothing, and hygiene/household and school supplies
• Tutoring and guidance by volunteers
• Identifying and securing college aid
• Career and education planning, as well as life skills development

For more info on YOTO, go to www.yoto.org.

In Defense of Good Teaching

Patricia L. Anders

In the wake of the federal education legislation, No Child Left Behind, teachers have been under increasing pressure. Schools increasingly require that teachers rely on standardized tests and books to teach, according to Patricia L. Anders, professor and department head in the UA College of Education Department of Language, Reading, and Culture. The use of standardized tests has led to the standardization of schooling.

When five teachers at Downer Elementary School in Richmond, Calif., took a stand against the standardization of education this past fall, they caused a ruckus in the West Contra Costa school district that began with threatening letters and ended with two teacher transfers and a school board sit-in.

In light of their fight, “The Downer 5” were given the In Defense of Good Teaching Award from the Department of Language, Reading, and Culture on March 4 during the 14^th Annual Conference on Literature and Literacy for Children and Adolescents at the college.

The award honors those who defend their education ideals and are punished for their actions, said Anders, who is a member of the committee that chooses winners. “These teachers are being treated like robots instead of professionals,” Anders said. “When you have teachers who stand up for what they know to be good for kids, they get squashed.”

The Downer 5 faced a lot of hostility from the school district and some painful consequences, but despite the drama, the teachers say they were pleased to win the award, as it provided some solace. This is the first time the award, which began in 2001, has been given to a group.

If you’d like more information, contact Patricia L. Anders.

At the Helm

Richard Reyes, the new director of the Wildcat School

An initiative being developed at the UA College of Education will apply university and community resources to preschool through grade 12 education. Arizona’s Initiative for Developing Educational Successes (ASCIENDES) is a research and service project designed to provide higher-education access and success to low-income students. An example is the Wildcat School, Arizona’s first university-affiliated charter school.  Located on Tucson’s south side, it will focus on math and science. Scheduled to open in August with grades 6 and 7, it will add a grade each year to eventually serve 560 students. The school will offer services that capitalize on UA resources — such as students and faculty — and include after-school programs, intensive remediation, and activities that support parent and community involvement.

And now, the Wildcat School has its first director. Richard Reyes, the assistant principal at Sunnyside School District’s Desert View High School for the last four years, has accepted the position. “I believe in the vision of the Wildcat School,” Reyes says. “When we’re fully up and running, we will provide great benefit to our students, their families, all those who work at the school, and — through our work with the UA — to the greater educational community as a whole. My only regret is that we won’t be able to serve all the students who desire to attend the school.”

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Reyes served for 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps (10 years as enlisted and 10 years as a commissioned officer). He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics while in the Marines and started teaching after his retirement from the Marines. He taught math at a high school in Yuma for seven years, then moved to Tucson where he taught math at Flowing Wells High School. He worked at the College of Education for a few years as a program coordinator, then took another math teaching job at Desert View, where he moved from math teacher to assistant principal. Today, we’re fortunate to have him at the helm of the Wildcat School.

Reyes is fond of a quote from Lance Armstrong, “If you’re tough enough, all roads seem flat.” We like that can-do spirit, especially for the new Wildcat School!

For more information on the Wildcat School, go to www.wildcatschool.org.

Lessons from New Zealand

Linda Tuhiwai Smith is coming to the College of Education on April 3!

Here’s a great opportunity you don’t want to miss! Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, will be speaking April 3, 7-8:30 p.m., at the College of Education in the Kiva Auditorium. Her topic? Promoting Indigenous Scholarship and Thought in the Academy: Lessons from New Zealand.

Smith is known internationally as a public speaker on issues related to Indigenous education, development, and research methodology and for her critically acclaimed book “Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples.” She is an associate professor of Maori education and director of the International Research Institute for Maori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She works as a consultant to the development of aboriginal and indigenous studies at five major universities in Australia and Greenland. In New Zealand, she has been central to the development of a tribal university, Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi, and to the nationwide movement for an alternative schooling system, Kura Kaupapa Maori. Her leadership represents the pioneering work of Maori scholars and activists which inspires indigenous and sovereignty work internationally.

For more information, contact Perry Gilmore.

And the Award of Excellence Goes To...

Carol G. Peck (left) of the Rodel Foundation of Arizona presents Director of Field Experiences Shirley Fisher with a surprise award

What began as a typical Thursday morning meeting turned into quite the surprise for College of Education Director of Field Experiences Shirley Fisher. Unbeknownst to Fisher, she was the recipient of the 2006 Award of Excellence from the Rodel Foundation of Arizona.

Fisher was taken aback that morning when Carol G. Peck, president and CEO of the Rodel Foundation of Arizona, pulled out a plaque with these words: In appreciation for outstanding leadership in the Rodel Exemplary Teacher Program. Your contributions of time and talent will make a lasting difference for future generations.

If you have not heard of the Rodel Foundation, you’ll be delighted to learn about its vision: To improve our state’s education system so that it is widely recognized as one of the best in the country by 2020.

One way this is accomplished is through the Rodel Exemplary Teacher Initiative, created to address the great need for excellent teachers in Arizona’s high-poverty schools. Fisher has been collaborating with Rodel since 2004 to select Rodel Exemplary Teachers and Rodel Promising Student Teachers. Annually, Rodel honors the very best teachers — those who beat the odds with high student achievement in low socioeconomic areas.

Here’s how it works: Fisher visits classrooms to interview teachers and assess their instructional skills with their students. The selected Exemplary Teachers then commit to train six high-potential student teachers who are identified by Fisher via application procedures and interviews.

According to Fisher, “All of our Rodel Promising Student Teachers who have graduated are now teaching in Tucson area schools.”

Each Rodel Promising Student Teacher is awarded a $1,000 COE scholarship while student teaching. Successful Rodel graduates, who go on to teach for a minimum of three years in high-poverty schools, are awarded a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond by Rodel.

For more information on the Rodel Foundation of Arizona, go to www.rodelfoundationaz.org.

Welcome!

A new assistant professor has been appointed in the College of Education Department of Educational Psychology. Hugh Crethar, who brings more than nine years of experience in school counseling and school counselor education, will arrive this summer to begin teaching in the fall semester. His areas of specialization in school counseling include multicultural and diversity issues, advocacy, ethics, professional development, and program development and efficacy. Crethar has served as a consultant to numerous school districts, including Chicago Public Schools. He recently was elected president elect of Counselors for Social Justice, a division of the American Counseling Association. For more information on this organization, go to http://www.counselorsforsocialjustice.org/.

Also coming on board is Michelle Perfect, who will be an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation, and School Psychology. Perfect’s research interests center around two areas: pediatric and health psychology and childhood maltreatment and trauma. Her work with people with physical disabilities and chronic health conditions began when she was an assistant preschool teacher while attending her master’s program at New York University. This focus continued throughout her psychology doctoral practica at the University of Texas at Austin and her clinical psychology predoctoral internship at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and two postdoctoral fellowships at University of Texas Medical Branch and The Scott & White Clinic. She is a licensed psychologist.

Congratulations!

The Pima Education Research Collaborative (PERC) is designed to apply research expertise in the College of Education to address problems in Pima County school districts. PERC just announced funding for three College of Education research projects:

• Mary Carol Combs, Todd Fletcher, Carol Evans, and Elena Parra were awarded $5,475 to study Sheltered English Immersion classrooms in the Sunnyside School District.
  
• Jerome D'Agostino was awarded $9,916 to study the effectiveness of AIMS exit exam interventions in the Flowing Wells School District.
  
• Bruce Johnson, D’Agostino, and Christopher Harris were awarded $10,000 for the development of science unit assessments aligned to school curriculum and the Arizona science standard in the Tucson Unified School District.

Funding for these projects comes from donations from sponsors like Raytheon, The Erasmus Circle members, and the Arizona K-12 Center. In addition, the PERC funding is matched on a 2 to 1 ratio with funds from the participating school districts.

Also to be congratulated...

Charlene Kampfe

Associate Professor Charlene Kampfe of our Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and School Psychology recently published an article with three of her colleagues. “The Infusion of Aging Issues in the Rehabilitation Curriculum: A Review of the Literature” appeared in Rehabilitation Education in February.

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