A Case Study of a School-University Partnership Focused on Literacy and Educational Equity: Responding to COVID-19 in the Early Grades

Abstract

School-university partnerships have emerged over the past three decades to increase educational opportunities for underserved students. One example is the Literacy Fellows Program (LFP), a recently created partnership between the Sherman Center for Early Learning in Urban Communities at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and two Baltimore City public schools. The LFP recruits and coordinates undergraduate volunteers to support literacy teaching and learning in first and second grade classrooms. This paper draws on interviews with 11 teachers and 20 volunteers, and 32 classroom observations conducted before and during COVID-19. Classroom teachers and undergraduate volunteers recognized multiple benefits of the program for all participants. COVID-19 has imposed challenges for teaching and the implementation of the LFP that have temporarily reduced the program’s effectiveness. However, these challenges also provide important lessons for improving implementation in the future. Implications of these findings for future research and partnership practice are discussed.