SASUP Annual Conference
2024 Call for Proposals
School-University Partnerships – Lighting the Way
The Southeastern Association of School-University Partnerships (SASUP) is pleased to hold its eighth annual conference at the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Hilton Head Island campus October 18–19, 2024. The purpose of the conference is to provide a space for dialogue and discovery about genuine collaborative partnerships between P-12 institutions and institutions of higher education. SASUP invites proposals that address at least one of the following five strands:
- Preparation of Teacher Candidates
- Preparation and Development of Teacher Leaders
- Preparation and Development of School Leaders and Leadership Pipelines
- Collaboration between P-12 Educators and IHEs
- P-12 Student Learning
- Research That Informs the Field
Within each of these strands, we expect presenters to address the conference theme: School-University Partnerships – Lighting the Way. Effective school-university partnerships light the way toward collaborative efforts to realize positive outcomes for students, teacher candidates, teacher leaders, and school leaders enhanced capacity to ensure resilience and sustainability, and exemplary programs and practices to advance the education profession through partnerships.
- School-university partnerships engage multiple, diverse constituent groups in work on behalf of schoolchildren and the professionals who serve them. These collaborative efforts advance the common good through learning communities designed “to improve student learning, prepare educators through clinical practice, engage in reciprocal professional learning, and conduct shared inquiry” (NASUP Mission). For example, How does your partnership embrace diversity and foster collaboration? How does your partnership promote the “common good” while operating in a context of political divisions, economic uncertainty, and wavering public confidence in the school system?
- School-university partnerships help enhance capacity to weather changing conditions in education. Some changes are seasonal, such as the predictable ebbs and flows of the school year that include the opening and closing of school, scheduled testing, celebrations and ceremonies, and other regularly occurring calendar items. Some changes present like storms that arise and bring unwanted or unanticipated obstacles, disruptions, and distractions. Partners can plan and prepare for storms and anticipate their arrival when clouds form on the horizon. Squalls, on the other hand, can arise without any warning, requiring partners to decisively and immediately respond in the moment. How does your partnership add to or enhance capacity for constituents? How do you ensure your partnership is resilient and will be sustainable in the future?
- Strong, sustained school-university partnerships are beacons of hope for the education profession. They serve as exemplars of what is possible when schools, school districts, IHEs, and the surrounding community come together to ensure excellence in education. Partnerships serve as incubators of innovation where new knowledge about practice is generated each day. What exemplary programs and practices can your partnership share with others? How has your partnership been innovative and creative in advancing its mission?