Education Renewal Zones
The Educational Renewal Zones (ERZ) are a multiyear Pre-K-16 initiative funded by the state of Arkansas to help improve public school performance and student academic achievement. This is a collaborative effort between renewal zone partners, including the Arkansas Department of Education's Division of ERZ, institutions of higher education (IHEs), regional education service cooperatives (ESCs), other technical assistance provider entities, schools, and participating communities. ERZ partnerships across the state are working to:
- Improve educational management strategies
- Take advantage of economies of scale by concentrating and coordinating resources and technical assistance
- Maximize the use of distance learning technology to improve the performance of the state's most academically distressed public schools
ERZ Concepts
- Collaboration: Partners collaborate effectively to promote a shared vision and economies of scale.
- Community and Parent Involvement: Systems are in place for parents and community to be active partners in the academic work of students and the school.
- Distance Learning: Partners effectively use distance-learning technology for professional development and course delivery.
- Faculty Sharing: Partners share faculty to meet staffing needs.
- Mentoring: IHEs and ESCs offer novice and veteran teachers and school leaders sustained job-embedded professional development and mentoring opportunities.
- Professional Development: IHEs and ESCs offer novice and veteran teachers and leaders ongoing, seamless professional development.
- Recruitment and Retention: Recruitment and retention systems are in place to support novice and veteran teachers.
- Teacher Preparation Programs: IHEs redesign teacher preparation programs to integrate and implement state and national initiatives/requirements.
Mentoring
For information about the Arkansas Department of Education Teacher Mentoring Program, contact Maureen Harness at 501-683-4382.
Each Regional ERZ has teacher mentoring available. Links to each regional ERZ partnership website are located on the right side of this screen.
For more information, please contact:
Related Files
- Guidelines for Developing ERZ Strategic Plans Posted 3/5/2005 pdf
- Seven Steps to Implementing Arkansas's ERZ Initiative Posted 3/24/2005 pdf
- Strategic Planning Indicator Document Posted 4/1/2009 pdf
- Logic Model Posted 7/2/2009 pdf
- Legislation Creating ERZ: Act 106 or the 2nd Extraordinary Session of 2003 Posted 2/10/2004 pdf
- Arkansas Traveling Teacher Program: Act 1027 of 2007 Posted 4/4/2007 pdf
- Faculty Sharing-Arkansas Traveling Teacher Program: Act 1027 of 2007 Posted 4/4/2007 pdf