Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching

Mission Statement

Hamline University's Center for Excellence in Urban Teaching (CEUT), which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2008, is Minnesota's pioneer organization for training and supporting teachers in applying proven culturally relevant pedagogical practices in urban and urban-like schools to promote increased educational success for ALL youth in Minnesota. CEUT has successfully piloted three effective programs: (a) Training college students of color to become K-12 teachers in urban schools; (b) Retaining new teachers of color working in urban schools through a graduate level certificate program in effective strategies for the real classroom; and (c) Implementing systems change at the school and district level to help promote increased student achievement and decreased racial disparities. Working across the educational spectrum, CEUT has a special focus on training and promoting teachers of color. Last year, CEUT trained a total of 1,469 teachers, administrators, students and community members. As part of our strategy, CEUT pairs teachers of color who are studying to advance their mastery of successful strategies for the urban classroom with vulnerable K-12 urban learners. Thanks to a special grant from Twin Cities United Way in 2007 and 2008, for example, CEUT piloted Project SOAR--a K-3 reading program--which resulted in increased reading outcomes for 95% of the vulnerable urban learners in the program.