McKay School of Education > CITES > Initiatives > Initiatives

Initiatives:  Introduction

General Purpose

CITES creates, maintains, and promotes initiatives for the BYU-Public School Partnership, for the purpose of simultaneous public school and teacher education renewal. Initiatives involve research by widely recognized scholars; services to schools, university, and communities; and professional development for educators.  They differ in specific purposes, organization, processes, recipients, and outcomes.  But they are unified in their overall purpose of improving teaching and learning in schools, homes, and communities.

Specific Initiatives

Associates:  Series of five 2-day school-district-level workshops which include reading and collaborative group discussion of books and articles by public school teachers and admnistrators along with university personnel.

Principals' Academy: Professional learning community of principals from throughout the BYU-Public School Partnership districts.

A.R.T.S - Arts Reaching and Teaching in Schools:  Workshops, conferences, performances, and side-by-side teaching opportunities provided to elementary school teachers to improve  arts instruction and integration.

Leaders Associates:  Two days of workshops and collaborative activities including leaders from the partnership school districts,  administrators from the McKay School of Education, and administrators from cross-campus colleges and departments that participate in preparing teachers.

Professional Development Academy: Composed of representatives from each of the partnership districts, the McKay School of Education, and CITES, functioning under the direction of the Partnership Governing Board, this academy coordinates activities for the joint benefit of the university and the schools.  It includes such undertakings as pilot projects for the benefit of the whole partnership, coursework leading to state endorsements, and conferences and institutes for university and public school personnel.

Math Initiatives: A committee composed of faculty from the several BYU departments in areas of teaching and mathematics, together with specialists from the five partner school, districts undertook a study resulting in a professional development intervention that is increasing teachers' understanding of mathematics content and pedagogy.

SEEL: Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy is a program for developing important early reading skills for kindergarten children.  Instruction is systematic and explicit, yet highly interactive and engaging.  

TELL: Teaching English Language Learners is a series of courses preparing teachers to work with English Langauge Learners in general education classrooms. Offered to both teacher candidates and current classroom teachers, the program culminates in a state ESL endorsement.

Positive Behavior Support Initiative (PBSI): This initiative, now implemented in several partnership schools, provides  both prevention and intervention for emotional and behaviorial difficulties.  Social skills instruction is implemented schoolwide, and targeted intervention is provided for students assessed as showing or being at risk for internalizing or externalizing difficulties.