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About the Center
The Center for Urban Education (CUE) is an alliance of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Birmingham City Schools, other school districts in the Birmingham metropolitan area, and local and national partners. It was approved by the Board of Trustees in the fall of 2008. The mission of the CUE is to promote quality education for socially and economically disenfranchised groups residing in urban areas. Specifically, the CUE prepares high-quality teachers and administrators to work in urban school districts. The CUE supports UAB’s instructional, research, and service programs by:
- Designing, implementing, and evaluating responsive, collaborative models of urban teacher development and retention.
- Integrating knowledge and involvement of family and community in the education of urban students, their teachers, administrators, and other community members.
- Promoting the recruitment, development, and retention of leaders for urban school environments.
- Facilitating the professional learning and development of the educational community around issues of race, class, and culture.
- Engaging in systematic research related to the training, recruitment, retention, and advancement of urban teachers and school administrators.
- Engaging in research related to factors that promote academic success of students in urban environments.
Preparing high-quality educators
Projects
The Center for Urban Education’s activities promote the enhancement of educational outcomes for students in urban schools. The Center’s projects currently include the following:
- Urban Teacher Enhancement Program (UTEP). UTEP is a teacher preparation program designed for those interested in urban teaching. It has been developed and implemented in collaboration with local partner districts. Students participating in UTEP receive tuition support for teacher education coursework. Other unique features of UTEP include coursework infused with competencies related to urban teaching, coursework co-taught by university faculty and master teachers from the partner districts, enhanced field placements, and mentorship from master teachers in the participating school districts.
- Communities and Schools Together (CAST). CAST is a comprehensive plan to support the involvement of families and communities in the education of urban students. The core activities of CAST include: research on current national and local trends in parent involvement and home-school relations; training of education professionals who work closely with urban parents and families; and serving as a coordinating entity to bring together families, educators, community representatives and agencies.
- Collaborative Action Research Program (CARP). This is a small grant program jointly supported by the Center for Urban Education and the Center for Aging. The program is designed to support field-based investigations of intergenerational activities that show promise for enhancing the academic achievement of urban students and the well-being of participating older adults.
- Cultivating Leaders for Inclusive Diverse Environments (CLIDE). CLIDE provides tuition support to Ed.S. students in the Leadership Program who are interested in administrative positions in Special Education.
- Project for Urban Teacher Education Research (PUTER). This project is designed to contribute to the knowledge base related to preparing urban teachers. The project is currently investigating critical competencies in urban teaching; teacher education practices effective in developing these competencies; and the relationship of these competencies to P-12 student learning outcomes.
Contact Us
For more information, contact
Deborah Voltz, CUE Director, at voltz@uab.edu.