About / Oct 10 / Harding University Partnership School comes to UCSB

October 12, 2010
For immediate release

The Harding University Partnership School brings its entire student body for a day of activities at UC Santa Barbara

The Harding University Partnership School, which since January 2010 has been partnered with UC Santa Barbara and in particular UCSB’s Gevirtz School, will bring the entire school – students, teachers, and many parents, too – to the UC Santa Barbara campus on Friday, October 15 from 9 am – 12:30 pm. Students ranging from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade will take part in activities aimed specifically for their grade levels and designed to enhance the curriculum they’ve been studying in their Westside school.

“We bring the Harding community to UCSB as a way to ensure that our children and parents feel they belong on a university campus,” Dean Jane Close Conoley of the Gevirtz School says. “In addition to the cutting edge learning opportunities they will experience during the visit, they will be welcomed by UCSB students, faculty, and staff as a way to invite them back as university students.”

The events during the day range from pre-K and kindergarten students attending a safety presentation from the UCSB police, fire, and ambulance services including hands-on equipment exploration to sixth graders working with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, seeing thermal energy with infrared cameras and learning why thermal properties of matter are important to energy transfer as they observe and participate in a heat transfer experiment. There will also be a Parents’ Meeting presented by the Office of Academic Preparation called “The University is Within Reach” that will explain basic steps parents can take to facilitate and ensure success in their children’s education.

The historic Harding School – whose students are nearly 95% Hispanic, more than 90% economically disadvantaged, and more than 60 % of its pupils are English Language Learners – has been involved in major changes over the past four years. These efforts were punctuated by the January 2010 announcement of an unprecedented partnership with UC Santa Barbara. Harding School, officially known as the University School, is a place of joy, excellence, and international focus. Of particular distinction for the neighborhood is the University School’s new status as a candidate for the International Baccalaureate Program, making it the only Santa Barbara elementary school currently pursuing this highly acclaimed approach that emphasizes 21st century skills and international mindedness.

The stellar teaching staff is assisted by graduate level teacher candidates from UCSB providing greater support for students at every grade level with the latest research-based practices. Faculty researchers and UCSB undergraduate tutors partner with teachers to deliver the latest evidence-based instruction.

[Jane Close Conoley is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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The Harding University Partnership School brings its entire student body for a day of activities at UC Santa Barbara