12/20/95

Roy Summerford (summero@mail.auburn.edu)

MICKEY MOUSE PROJECT COULD LEAD TO BETTER SCHOOLS, SAYS AU DEAN

AUBURN -- Future teachers can learn a lot from a Mickey Mouse project, says Richard Kunkel, dean of Auburn University's College of Education.

Over the past year, Kunkel and other AU College of Education faculty and administrators have been part of a team of nationally respected educators that has provided expertise in planning a school and affiliated teaching academy unlike any others in the nation. Other members of the team are from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Minnesota and Stetson University

The Walt Disney Development Company is providing the start-up costs, and the participating universities are providing the expertise for a new kind of public school at Celebration, Disney's planned community near the theme park. The school, which will be part of the Osceola County, Fla., public school district, will be a working demonstration of teaching concepts and procedures developed by the nation's leading colleges of education.

Unlike most k-12 public schools, the Celebration School will be housed next to a teaching academy, where faculty and graduate students from participating universities will examine methods and technologies designed to assess improve teaching. The Celebration School opens next fall, and the teaching academy opens in the fall of 1997. Located on a 38-acre campus, the school and academy will serve more than 1,000 pre k-12 students and 1,500 educators per year.

The combination of public school and teaching academy will offer new opportunities for Auburn students and faculty, as well as for students at the Celebration School, said Kunkel. Graduate students and faculty will gain experience and conduct research in a school setting that is at the forefront of elementary and secondary education in the United States, he said.

Kunkel and education leaders from the other institutions are working with Celebration Teaching Academy's director, Larry Rosen of Stetson University, to implement the concepts that will guide both the school and the academy. Others at AU, such as Associate Dean Jeff Gorrell and Assistant Professor Pamela Boyd, are assisting with program development for the teaching academy.

Rosen said Auburn was among the first universities invited to participate because of the expertise of its College of Education faculty and Kunkel's reputation in national education circles. Kunkel was executive director of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education before assuming the Auburn post in 1989, and he has done extensive research in methods for improvement of schools in Alabama and across the country

"Rich Kunkel is one of the top educators in America and he brings some outstanding faculty into the mix," said Rosen. "There is a great opportunity for Auburn to be a major player in the operation of the academy, as it has already been in the design process."

The teaching academy will be an applied research and outreach center at which faculty and graduate students from participating universities will work in partnership with the administration and teachers of Celebration School.

Kunkel, who proudly wears a Mickey Mouse tie on special occasions, said the association with Disney provides opportunities that students at Auburn, Harvard, Stetson or the other participating institutions could not otherwise gain. Even students who are not directly involved in Celebration programs will have greater access to some of the best minds in the field of education, he said.

"There will be a much greater opportunity to bring in significant thinkers and program builders from around the country than any of us could achieve on our own," Kunkel said. "A select number of our faculty and students will expand on the direct role we are already playing, and they will form a nucleus for new ideas that will enhance teaching and learning at Auburn and in Alabama."

As students gain from either direct or indirect involvement, they will take their skills and concepts to schools where they will be teaching, said Gorrell. "This is a unique partnership of the member institutions, teaching academy and a model school, and, as such, it will provide insights into ways to improve teaching at the university level as well as in k-12," he said.

"It is not a one-way street," added Kunkel. "We are providing expertise and testing concepts that will be transferred to schools all across the country.

"At the same time, we are enhancing Auburn's role as a leader in the field of education," he said. "We expect that some of our students will go on to become future leaders in education, and still others will be better teachers because of our involvement with Celebration."

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CONTACT: Kunkel or Gorrell, 334/844-4446, or Rosen, 407/827-4022