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Academy for Teacher Excellence: Maximizing Synergy Among Partners for Promoting College Access for Latino Teacher Candidates

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Abstract

This case study discusses how educational entities collaborate in meaningful ways to address teaching force representation and shortages in critical fields for diverse populations in urban education settings. The authors examined how the role of a federally funded program, Academy for Teacher Excellence (ATE), at a Hispanic Serving Institution in Texas is creating preschool through university level (P-20) collaborative partnerships with various community stakeholders to enhance college access for minorities, specifically Latino students pursuing the teaching profession. Constant comparison analysis of the data uncovered the following themes: (a) Building Relationships and Dialoguing across Partners, (b) Communicating Information and Outreach, and (c) Networking and Leveraging Resources. Together, these foster a collaborative partnership among entities with the intention of maximizing synergy and supporting the access, recruitment, and education of Latino teacher candidates who will become culturally efficacious teachers of all students, but specifically for the growing number of Latino students in urban areas.

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Correspondence to Belinda Bustos Flores.

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Flores, B.B., Claeys, L. Academy for Teacher Excellence: Maximizing Synergy Among Partners for Promoting College Access for Latino Teacher Candidates. Urban Rev 43, 321–338 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-010-0153-y

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