The P-16 Center’s partnership with Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) largely involves two of their high schools, Arsenal Technical and Emmerich Manual. To facilitate collaborative activities, IPS and the School of Education created a jointly-funded position for a Pathways Coordinator. Deb Leser, a former academic dean at Manual High School in Indianapolis, now a Ed.D. candidate in educational leadership at the IU School of Education, is currently the Pathways Coordinator. (Read the press release) She coordinates partnership activities with the two high schools and has aided the development of Arsenal Technical's New Tech High School by supporting the leadership of the school, facilitating professional development and data collection, and providing grant writing assistance.

The P-16 Center also works closely with the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education (CUME) at IUPUI on the partnership. CUME has a long-standing relationship with IPS and is involved with the two Pathways Initiative – Collaborative Projects situated at the IPS high schools.

• Arsenal Technical High School: The International Academy (IA) Pathways Project
  This project involves two components. One project looks at improving college readiness and global competence, and the other project examines language learning strategies as well as assessments for student performance and transcultural engagements in communication contexts.
• Emmerich Manual High School: University High Academy and Indiana University School of Education
  This project addresses chronic absenteeism, education’s perceived lack of relevance to students’ lives, and students’ limited engagement with content literacy and numeracy.

Services to Students

To facilitate college access and opportunity, the P-16 Center has hosted campus visits from IPS groups and seeks to connect them with IU resources for visits, scholarships, and summer camps. For example, the Center hosted a group of students from the International Academy for a tour of campus and meetings with the different language departments on campus.

Students from Arsenal Technical and Emmerich Manual can also apply for the IU Pathways Scholarship for Future Teachers, a $2,000 renewable scholarship that is intended to encourage Pathways students to pursue careers in education.