About the College of Education

Equity, Diversity & Community Outreach Report

Safe Space Training for Teacher Candidates

The Office of Field Experience, the Office of Academic Affairs, and the East Baton Rouge Parish I Care Office jointly created a version of LSU’s Safe Space training for Pre-kindergarten through high school teachers and teacher education candidates. Activities provided awareness of and sensitivity to issues for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) students. All teacher candidates learned how to make their classrooms safe spaces as well as strategies for working with parents who may be GLBT.

Courses Offered Related to Equity, Diversity, Race, or Poverty: AY 07-08

Education & Diverse Populations; Counseling Children; Girls and Women’s Issues in Counseling; Identity, Culture, and Curriculum in a Global Context; Curriculum and Teaching in a Global Context; Jacques Derrida: Identity and Diversity in Education; Michel Serres: The Diversity of Time and Education; Judith Butler and Gayatri Spivak: New Dimensions in Education; Ethics and/in Education; Issues in Urban Education

Visiting Faculty and Lecture Series Associated with Diversity Issues

• Lisa Delpit, Florida International – Spring, 2008, co-taught a course, gave public lectures including the COE Centennial Lecture Touched by Their Fire, Blinded by Their Brilliance: Re-imagining the Education of Urban Students, worked with LSU faculty and students, and provided consulting for the EBRPPS

• Linda Tillman, UNC-CH  – Spring, 2008, sponsored lecture The Public University: Toward Culturally and Community Informed Teaching, Research, and Service

• Margaret Crocco, Teachers College Columbia – Fall, 2007, sponsored lecture titled Teaching the Levees: A Curriculum for Democratic Dialogue and Civic Engagement, showcased a multi-disciplinary curriculum with online resources based on When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, an HBO documentary about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath directed by Spike Lee.

Faculty Involvement

Multiple faculty books, book chapters, research and scholarly articles, national and international presentations, and funded projects related to gender, race, diversity, and at-risk populations were published, presented, or awarded to faculty members in the College of Education during this academic year. Books included: Choate, L. (2008), Girls’ and Women’s Wellness: Contemporary Counseling Issues and Interventions published by the American Counseling Association.

Community Outreach

• Student teachers and interns completing were placed in approximately 41 schools in eight different school districts (Baker, EBR, WBR, Central, Zachary, West Feliciana, Livingston, & Ascension).

• College has sustained long term specialized relations with two EBR schools, identified as partnership schools (Highland Elementary and McKinley Middle School, EBR).

• College established three new PDSs (Port Allen Elementary, Cohn Elementary, & Lukeville Upper Elementary, WBR) with a focus on special education, a critical shortage area state wide and nationally.

• The COE’s Positive Behavior Support state contract awarded this year works with over 900 schools in every district in the state that have participated in PBS training provided through LSU.

At-Risk Students Outreach Funded Initiatives

• GEAR UP (US-DOE) for at-risk youth includes partnerships with the East Baton Rouge Parish and the City of Baker School Systems, Volunteers in Public Schools, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce, the Baton Rouge Parents University, Teach for America, and the National Writing Project. 

• Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited (LSYOU) (multiple funding sources) that helps at-risk students succeed in high school and serves as an outreach to the community, a service learning site to the LSU faculty and students, and a place where students from the College of Education can learn effective teaching techniques.

• Delta Express addresses both educational and social needs of underserved children displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita working at the Renaissance Village.

Special Education Outreach Funded Initiatives

• The Louisiana Coalition for Positive Behavior Initiative (LA-DOE), provides to school districts across the state training support and related professional development, as well as evaluation of State Wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS). 

• Improving Content Literacy Practices in World History (US - DOE Flow-through LaSIP), to increase teacher and student knowledge and classroom use of curriculum based measurement progress monitoring procedures and evidence based vocabulary instruction in sixth grade social studies. 

• Louisiana School Improvement Grant (SA-DOE), staff supports schools and districts in making improvement efforts at all necessary levels including authentic family engagement.

Literacy/Reading Funded Initiatives

• East Feliciana Literacy for All (LA DOE) supports professional development for East Feliciana teachers.

• The LSU Writing Project (National Writing Project), serves 10 parishes in southern Louisiana, creating a large network of teacher consultants who engage in Writing Project work through continuity programs and various service activities.

• Abramson (New Orleans) Charter School Book Drive – coordinated and facilitated the collecting of over 8,000 books to establish classroom libraries during the first year of school operations, 2007-2008.

Teacher Professional Development Funded Initiatives

• The Professional Development Partnership State Coordination Grant (LADOE) for working with West Baton Rouge Parish Schools, and Families Helping Families of Greater Baton Rouge in creating professional development schools which embrace inclusive practices and engagement in continuous improvement to close achievement gaps among student subgroups.

Mathematics/Science Funded Outreach Initiatives

• Pathways to Inquiry (NSF) - Links teacher access to science inquiry skills and earth science activities.

• The Coastal Roots Project (multiple funding sources) - Integrates earth science and biology instruction with environmental stewardship and leading youth in self-sustaining coastal wetland restoration activities.

• NOYCE Grant (NSF) - University faculty in education, mathematics, and the sciences collaborate with area secondary faculty in creating enriching field experiences integrally tied to coursework.