An Historical Perspective of the School-University Partnership Movement in American Education and the Current Landscape

Introduction And Phases Of The Movement

As I have commented in previous writings, the partnership movement between schools and universities in America has progressed through a number of phases and waves (Catelli, 2006; and Catelli, Marino, & Eschbach, 2017). Vito Perrone (1994), prominent educator and author, dates formal collaborative relationships between schools and universities as far back as the early nineteenth century when secondary schools and colleges in America were in their formative years and connectedness was seen as a desirable state. In an essay written by Perrone entitled University-School Collaboration in Historical Perspective, Perrone cites as an illustrative example a proposal made by Judge Augustus Woodward that promoted a conception of the University of Michigan as a being part of an all-inclusive state education system that would include schools, as well as other institutions, e.g., libraries, museums, etc. Although the proposal by Woodward was seen at the time as unworkable and subsequently dropped, as Perrone explains, it was John D. Pierce, the Superintendent for Public Instruction in Michigan who later in 1837 crafted a state system of education involving the University as a prime connector to elementary and secondary schools. The plan was to develop branches or secondary academies throughout the state. These secondary academies would occupy spaces in the middle connecting on one side to elementary schools and on the other side to the University. The idea was to connect the levels of education in meaningful ways to serve a common purpose of an improved education for students, as well as an improved system of teacher education. Although the plan was never really actualized in total, the idea of a common purpose of connectedness and mutuality persisted in concrete ways at the University of Michigan, and it also began to take hold in other states such as in Nebraska and North Dakota (Perrone, 1994).

In 1883, when the University of North Dakota was founded, the need to also create a preparatory school linked to the University became an imperative. At the time there were few, if any, secondary schools in Dakota. As a result of the University having been linked to a preparatory school, there became then, in many academic areas, a seamless system of education for students and faculty. Students first took courses in a subject at the preparatory school and then continued on to advanced levels at the University. Teachers taught on both levels operating under a common purpose with a shared curriculum. The institutions and their campuses were linked in ways that then led the University of North Dakota to become the heart and center of an education system connected to developing secondary schools throughout the state. University faculty worked closely with secondary teachers on curriculum matters, and many also became engaged in teacher preparation (Perrone, 1994).

Although most of the connective relationships between universities and schools in the nineteenth century were initiated by universities, Perrone (1994) identifies the emergence of Normal Schools -- teacher training institutions -- as having been originated from the expansion of secondary schools to the development of state colleges. Normal Schools, beginning with the first in 1823 in Vermont, represent cases where connective relationships originated in the reverse direction, school to college. Perrone (1994) continues his commentary by noting that the historical accounts of collaborative relationships of the Universities of Michigan and North Dakota are similar to the historical accounts of Harvard, Wisconsin, Chicago, Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Illinois Universities. One of the main points Perrone wants to make in the essay is that the connections between schools and universities were quite common and a normal occurrence during the nineteen century when universities and secondary schools were in their formative years. Their need to connect and serve a common purpose was great during their foundational and developmental years. This period of connectedness might then be considered as the first phase of the school-university partnership movement in education. Although the first phase is sometimes identified as having occurred during the 1950s and early1960s (Jones & Maloy, 1988), most probably because of the increased use of the term partnership¹ rather than collaboration, there certainly is enough evidence presented by Perrone to identify the nineteenth century as the first phase of the movement (see Perrone 1994 for a more in-depth narrative and analysis of the period).