Stevenson Partnership

Beginning with the 2005 - 2006 school year, Sparks Elementary School and Stevenson University have been working together in a Professional Development School partnership. The purpose of this partnership is to provide educational opportunities for the students of Sparks Elementary and the education majors of Stevenson University. 

Throughout these seven years the partnership has evolved but one thing has remained constant, the teachers of Sparks Elementary School have served as mentors to the Stevenson University students, which has resulted in a rewarding educational experience for them, and the students of Sparks Elementary. The Sparks teachers work with sophomore, junior and senior year students from Stevenson. The Stevenson students arrive in August and are part of the Sparks community until April. During this time they have the opportunity to plan and teach lessons, work with the school based academic teams as well as the PTA and School Improvement Team.

In addition to the mentoring portion of the partnership, there have been opportunities for Stevenson University to sponsor on campus professional development opportunities for the Sparks faculty and to obtain grant money that can be used to benefit the Sparks community such as in the purchasing of technology for use in the classrooms.