Wichita State University alumna Patrice Duncan, a teacher at Clark Elementary, has been invited to speak on a panel set up by the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education to brief Congress on Monday, June 10.

Duncan will speak about how her WSU experience prepared her for teaching, from working with English language learners, to using new technology in the classroom, to reaching out to families of children in poverty.

She will also meet later with Senator Jerry Moran and Senator Pat Roberts’ staff to discuss the benefits of the Teacher Quality Partnerships being implemented at WSU and by 40 universities and high-need school districts across the United States.

The WTQP partners - Wichita State University, Wichita Public Schools, community organizations and area community colleges - are working to create a wide pipeline for the recruitment, education, induction and retention of highly qualified teachers for urban schools, said Sharon Iorio, dean of the College of Education.

Approximately 400 WSU teacher preparation students are placed in more than 30 Wichita schools each semester.

By the conclusion of the five-year grant, WSU anticipates that it will have prepared more than 588 new teachers for Wichita’s schools.

One early indicator of the partnership's value is that assessment (first year) results show elementary students in partner schools made gains in reading and math over the past year and gains in partner schools were greater than those made in schools across the district at large.

Another value is the sustainability of the partnership beyond the term of the grant.

The Wichita partnership is the second largest in the country next to Arizona State University.