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OUTREACH/SERVICE 

Outreach and community service are hallmarks of the Department of Teacher Education. Faculty, staff and students are integrated into the Paso del Norte region in a myriad of ways to positively impact its residents and the way they learn. UTEP students and faculty explore ways to enhance skills such as parenting, communication, home learning, volunteerism, decision-making and community collaboration.

UTEP has a long history of working in the community, and the professional development approach is fundamental in student’s gaining experience to work as a K-12 professional.  A Professional Development School (PDS) can be defined as a partner with a university in an educator preparation program that can include teachers, principals, counselors, special education teachers and diagnosticians.  Typically, interns, or pre-service teachers, spend part of their final year of university educator preparation study in a local school, where the issues studied in the classroom can be lived out in the real world.

Faculty initiatives such as partnerships with local schools and school districts on issues of bilingual education, problem-based learning training for area teachers, and work with migrant student populations often lead to student success. Department faculty use innovative and creative ways to engage students, educators, parents and community members through outreach that has included 3D printing, Music and Mathematics, living arthropods displays, and physics through skateboarding demonstrations.

In El Paso, 75 percent of the teachers, counselors, diagnosticians and administrators in local school districts come from UTEP’s certification programs and 83 percent of UTEP’s students come from the El Paso area.  With this closed loop for teachers and students, the establishment of productive relationships and collaborative leadership with administration, faculty, staff and students throughout the area are critical to the development of an increased number of high quality educators graduating from the College of Education.

Teacher Education faculty also provide service contributions in their areas of expertise at distinct levels, including University service, community service and professional service in national and international efforts. The Teacher Education department integrates service learning in many of the courses to demonstrate the impacts of action research in providing service to the Paso del Norte region.