Urban Educator Network

The Urban Educator Network (UEN) seeks to maintain a connection between the graduates of the Teacher Education Program (TEP) and UCLA by continuing to support the development of educational leaders in urban schools on behalf of social justice reform. We have found that TEP graduates want and need to be connected to each other and to UCLA, and we want to be connected to you. Alumni can get involved with Center X, and continue to stay connected with UCLA and other fellow graduates through a variety of opportunities and events.

TEP Alumni are invited to annual reunions, and are provided opportunities for involvement in the Urban Educator Network, including:

• Participate in conferences sponsored by Center X at a reduced rate, e.g. With Different Eyes, The Chancellor’s Conference, and others.
• Assisting with Recruiting. Alumni are very important models and sources of information for the TEP Program to prospective students.
• Mentoring a Resident, a first year teacher with the transition from their novice year into independent teaching positions in urban schools, residents continue to need and want to forge coalitions with like-minded educators. Contact and support is invaluable as the residents negotiate new school cultures and frame new practices.
• Serving as Guiding Teachers to Novices. Guiding teachers support novice teachers during their student teaching in designated urban schools with racially, culturally and linguistically diverse low-income student populations.
• Participating in Research. In our efforts to assess our approach to teacher education, Network members help by participating in research that:
  • Gauges the effectiveness and persistence of our graduates in urban schools.
  • Measures the extent graduates become embedded within the communities where they work.
  • Examines how graduates conceive student access and seek to promote this goal.
  • Explores the ways graduates become agents of change.
• Serving as a member of TEP Committees. Various committees meet on a regular basis to review program efforts and provide input for continued program development.

Contact:

Eloise Lopez Metcalfe
TEP Director
(310) 206-4621
elm@ucla.edu