STEP Bridges to the Future

Bridges to the Future: Partnerships for Success Rural Education

What is Bridges to the Future?

Bridges to the Future is a collaboration between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Greenfield, Gill-Montague and Orange School Districts. This initiative is intended to promote teacher education, the enhancement of local schools, literacy education and the expansion of youth opportunities in these communities.

Teacher Education Program

The teacher education program is modeled on the 180 days in Springfield program. This model offers a full year of immersion in a middle or high school as the center of the teacher education experience. A cohort of students, working on licensure in math, English, history or the sciences, begin the school year in the school, student teach in the fall, and move on to teaching duties in a clinical internship in the spring. At the same time, they take UMass courses towards the attainment of a Masters in Education, which is awarded with the completion of the program, along with a teaching license. These courses are taught by UMass faculty in concert with faculty from the schools where the cohort is teaching. Many of these courses take place in these same schools. In this program teacher candidates learn the intricacies of the work of teaching, work closely with a community of faculty and mentors, and have the opportunity to translate the relationship between theory and practice in their day to day work.

Beyond the Classroom

In addition to teaching, The Bridges to the Future candidates are given opportunities to engage in instructional planning, curriculum development, and community outreach projects. Intensive daily collaboration with teachers, administrators, professors and students is central to this work, as is the connection to the communities beyond the schools. The goal for this program is not only that the teacher education candidates have a wonderful and rich opportunity for learning, but that their presence, and the relationships between the University and the schools and the larger community, all work to stimulate growth of ideas, possibilities and meaningful hope within the communities. The community service projects will be structured around the concept of the “community teacher” whose participation in life outside of the school expands knowledge of student needs, encourages communication between schools and the broader community, and makes for stronger parent-school-community collaboration in education.

Teacher Candidates

Applicants need to have a strong base of knowledge and courses in their subject area, a record of leadership and achievement, as well as an interest in rural education. Because they will enter the classroom as teachers in the fall, we need to have a deep confidence in their knowledge of their subject area.