General Information

The Virginia School-University Partnership is a professional consortium of twenty-four Virginia school divisions and the Curry School of Education of the University of Virginia established to promote professional collaboration and networking.

The Virginia School-University Partnership was founded in 1986 and joined the National Network for Education Renewal (NNER), initiated by John Goodlad for the purpose of "simultaneously improving schools and the education of educators." The original network was comprised of thirteen partnerships in as many states and was based on the premise that the needed reformation of America's education system can be facilitated by collaborative organizations of schools and colleges.

The original Virginia partnership was comprised of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, eight Central Virginia school divisions and the District of Columbia Public Schools. In 2009, twenty-four school divisions in Central and Northern Virginia, and the University of Virginia Schools are involved in the Partnership, including the Curry School of Education, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, the School of Arts and Sciences, and the Engineering School. In 2006, the Partnership was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to give the organization greater flexibility in its development and provision of services.

The organization continues to provide collaborative professional development services and programs to school divisions in central and northern Virginia.

The Virginia School University Partnership continues to provide state of the art professional development and collaborative benefits for consortia members.

The Partnership is a public non-profit organization linking the University of Virginia with 26 Central and Northern Virginia school divisions to provide quality professional development for administrators and teachers. It has become a valuable asset to smaller school divisions who have fewer resources for professional development.

Here are some of the benefits that the member school divisions receive:

Organizational Structure

Board of Directors - The Board of Directors is comprised of the superintendents from each of the member school divisions, the Dean of the UVA Curry School of Education, the chairperson of the Curry School Leadership, Foundations and Policy Department, and the Executive Director of the VA Association of School Superintendents. The Board appoints the Executive Director to implement their policy decisions and also the Director of the Partnership's Professional Development. The Board is responsible for the overall functioning and governance of the Professional Development Consortium. Quarterly meetings of the Board serve to address issues of importance to members. Meeting also feature presentations by Curry School faculty members on the latest educational research and collaborative projects with local school divisions.

Professional Development Steering Committee - The Professional Development Steering Committee meets quarterly and is composed of central office instructional leaders from each partner school division. The committee's role is to assess the professional development needs of Partnership members and to plan and coordinate workshops, conferences, and programs to address consortia needs.

Professional Development Plan for 2009-10