LEWISTON – Representatives from the teacher education program at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College gave a presentation last month at the Harvard Graduate School Gutman Conference Center in Cambridge, Mass.

The Collaborative Learning and School Success Professional Development School, a partnership between the college and Auburn public schools, sent a team of faculty and Auburn teachers to deliver a presentation as part of the Northeast Regional Community Schools Forum, “Community Schools: Now More Than Ever …”

The team was comprised of Dr. W. Bumper White, associate professor and coordinator of the program, Carol Miller, site coordinator at Sherwood Heights Elementary School, and Auburn Middle School teachers Jim Carmichael and Sue Myers.

They led a panel presentation called “The Community as Curriculum” in which they highlighted the university-school district partnership and the efforts at the Auburn Middle School to get students involved in integrated service-learning and “problem-based” curricular projects.

The Coalition for Community Schools is an alliance of more than 160 national, state and local organizations that promotes the development of community schools that are designed to offer a practical and effective strategy for educating all children to their full potential.

The partnership at L-A College is an innovative program in undergraduate elementary and middle school teacher education. The field-based program includes course work in an academic major leading to a bachelor’s degree in a liberal arts field and a professional program of teacher preparation that results in kindergarten through grade eight certification.

Applications are being accepted for the fall semester. Anyone interested is asked to call 753-6618 or visit the website at usm.maine.edu/lac/programs/class/.