About CISP and Equity and Access in Secondary School Classrooms
The California International Studies Project
(CISP) has been conducting
equity-focused professional development programs
for K-12 teachers since the early 1990s.
Based substantially on
complex instruction, an instructional
approach developed by Elizabeth Cohen at Stanford, these programs
are designed to expand academically rigorous participation,
especially by disengaged students.
To do so, teacher participants develop the skills to set high
academic standards, hold students closely accountable, engage them
actively in the learning process, share responsibility for
instruction, and develop critical thinking.
At more advanced stages of
skill development, participants expand engagement through
collaborative teamwork activities. Building
on this foundation, CISP offers two specific programs for high
school teachers. One
connects to university pre-service teacher preparation.
In the Greater Los Angeles Area, and especially in the
Los Angeles
Unified
School District,
CISP offers Equity and
Access professional development on a multi-disciplinary
basis. This program is
concentrated increasingly in independent small high schools and
small learning communities, locations where teachers and
administrators develop a shared vision of and commitment to
equity-focused instruction. Disproportionate numbers of induction
teachers are found in these schools, which are characterized by high
turnover and conditions that are especially challenging for new
teachers.
CISP also
conducts the Contemporary
World History Project (CWHP), which combines equity-focused
professional development for grade 10 world history teachers with an
engaging technology-assisted, international relations simulation for
their students (www.cwhp.info).
In this exercise, the students in a participant’s classroom
represent a nation-state as its “diplomats.”
In small teams, these diplomatic delegations attempt to
resolve key, real-world problems – child labor, world health,
climate change, etc – with their student counterparts in other
participating classrooms across the state.
These diplomatic exchanges are initially conducted through
email; near the conclusion of the simulation, they occur
face-to-face in a one-day Global Forum held on a university campus.
CWHP has a
university dimension as well.
University students planning to teach high school --
undergraduate history majors and single subject credential
candidates – perform the role of the
U.S.
diplomatic delegation in the high school exercise.
These students enroll in a history department credit course
to strengthen their world affairs knowledge and guide their
participation in the simulation.
Through this participation of university students, in both
the diplomatic email exchanges and the culminating event, the
simulation exercise connects all aspects of teacher development:
content and pedagogical preparation as well as new and veteran
teacher professional growth.
The project is increasing its support for
teacher credentialing institutions that are committed to
incorporating equity-focused instructional experiences for
pre-service teacher candidates.
Of particular interest are institutions that are planning to
establish linkages between university-based preparation programs and
the schools where teacher candidates are assigned for classroom
observation and guided practice.
The project seeks new and veteran teachers
to participate in the exercise.
Priority should be given to those who are committed to
developing subject knowledge in world history and geography,
interested in expanding the equity-focused dimensions of their
instructional practice, and available to participate in an on-going,
exercise-connected, professional community of their counterparts.
