Enhancing Urban Teachers STEM and Leadership Capacities: A preliminary report on a unique private-public-public partnership
Abstract: This symposium discusses a unique example of private-public-public partnership (the MSU-Wipro STEM & Leadership program) to enhance the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) teaching and leadership capacities of teachers in a large urban school district. Funded by private money (Wipro Inc. an international IT giant with some additional support from Microsoft), this project is the result of a close partnership between a ranked college of education at a public university (Michigan State) and a large public school system (Chicago Public Schools). In this symposium we will describe the genesis of the project, the development of a relationship between the partners and will provide insight into the first year of the program. Presenters will include partners from Chicago Public Schools, leadership from within Michigan State University, as well as instructors and evaluators of the program. In this manner we hope to provide a rich, multi-faceted, and multi-layered descript