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fmu
center of excellence
partner organizations
to
achieve its goals, francis marion university center of excellence
has pulled together an impressive set of partners.
first and foremost, the center works collaboratively with
the 18 school districts located in the pee dee region.
three districts in grant year 1 (2004-2005) and seven districts
in grant year 2 (2005-2006) were termed partner districts
in that they are intimately involved with, and contribute to, the
activities of the center. the other districts are called participating districts
in that they will be able to participate in the outreach activities
of the center.
francis marion
university has formed a
partnership with the pee
dee
education center. established in 1967 and located within
walking distance of the campus, the board of directors of the pee dee education
center includes the dean
of the school of education and the 18 district superintendents.
the pdec has provided services for member districts and,
perhaps more importantly, gained respect as an authoritative communications
link with political and educational entities throughout the state.
francis marion
university will collaborate
with two existing centers of excellence:
the center of excellence for
the education and equity of african-american students,
housed at benedict college,
and the center of excellence in accelerating learning, located at
the college of charleston. because so many of the children of poverty
in the pee dee region are african american, a collaborative relationship
with the benedict college center for excellence will facilitate
the sharing of knowledge likely to benefit both centers. likewise, because the solution to the problem
of educating children of poverty typically involves changing the
way we think about children of poverty and determining how best
to change the culture of schools to make them a more effective learning
environment for these children, a collaborative relationship with
the college of charleston center of excellence will help both centers
more fully realize their potential.
a critical component of providing quality teachers for children
of poverty involves identifying and recruiting people who are uniquely
qualified and extremely interested in teaching these children. as a result, the center
of excellence will collaborate
with the center
for educator recruitment, retention, and advancement (cerra),
housed at winthrop university,
to help identify middle and high school students in the pee
dee region who show promise and interest in the teaching
profession.
finally, in order to access the increasingly large body of
knowledge and wealth of resources that have accumulated at the national
level, the center will collaborate with the national
center for research on the education of students placed
at risk (crespar) which is housed at johns
hopkins university
in baltimore,
maryland. scholars and researchers at this center
will serve as consultants to the center staff as they work toward
achieving the stated goals.
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