In September 1952, Tisch Adjunct Faculty Member Linda Beardsley, made her first step into what would develop into a lifetime passion for education: she entered kindergarten. The experiences and lessons Beardsley learned as a student made a deep impression on her and, even now, shape the work she does as Director of Teacher Education and School Partnerships in Tufts education department.
“As a new student, I knew, somehow, that going to school meant something significant for me and my family,” she described. “I was becoming part of a greater community. I was sharing space, playthings, paintbrushes, pencils, blocks and books with 30 other individuals, as enthusiastic and curious and nervous as I.”
But in this place called school, I also learned my first lessons about membership in a community and all the responsibilities and considerations that go along with that privilege. I thrived in this environment; my ideas and expectations were reinforced. But as I watched schoolmates who struggled with various aspects of the structure of school, I learned that schools can be communities in which not all participants feel comfortable and valued.”
After pursuing a career in teaching at the high school and early childhood levels, and working as an inclusion specialist for a federally funded project, Beardsley was offered a position at the Massachusetts Department of Education, just as the Education Reform Law of 1993 was passed. Focusing on education reform at a policy level, Beardsley began to study how to address the inequities that exist in education.
“That interest I had in the community and equality of public schools as a student blossomed into a professional passion for creating schools that affirmed all learners,” she said. “It was not until I had the opportunity to travel around the Commonwealth, researching programs for recent immigrants, students of color, and reluctant readers that I truly understood the inequities of our educational system and the toll this inequity took on the quality of all our lives in Massachusetts.”
As the Director of Teacher Education and School Partnerships, Beardsley continues to advocate that the best way to reform education is by ensuring that all schools employ smart and compassionate teachers.
“To me, improving schools and fostering the intellectual development and varied pedagogy of teachers are one and the same thing,” she said. “Preparing new teachers to enter the profession, providing opportunities for experienced teachers to continue to learn and study is the best way I have found to continue my commitment to education excellence and equity.” She cites the Urban Teacher Training Collaborative (UTTC), a residency based teacher preparation program she developed and the Fulcrum Institute for Leadership in Science Education, an NSF funded program for elementary and middle school teachers as examples of exceptional school improvement programs.
At Tufts, Beardsley works with graduate students who are pursuing their Masters in Teaching (MAT) degrees. As these MAT candidates learn their own lessons about how education policy influences classroom practice, Beardsley often reminds them to not forget that teaching and public service are inextricably linked.”
“My particular interests are preparing all teachers to consider teaching as social justice and civic engagement,” she said. “To prepare teachers to see themselves as public intellectuals, deeply engaged in the civic and community issues of the cities and town in which they teach, and to believe that they are teachers in a community, not solely in a school.”
Though Beardsley has spent the majority of her career advocating for education reform with local classrooms in mind, Beardsley recently started working with a group of women in the Boston area who had established the Maranyundo School, a Middle School for girls in Rwanda’s Bugesera district. In September, Beardsley will travel to Rwanda to observe the school’s practices and meet with members of the Ministry of Education.
“The leadership of Rwanda understands clearly that to heal their nation, education and who gets to be educated have to be re-envisioned,” she said. She added that President Kagame of Rwanda is interested in replicating at a national level some of the practices of the Maranyundo community. These include the school garden program, growing native crops to feed the school community and a micro-finance program, which provides teachers at the school with laptops.
Beardsley said that working with this group of women has reinforced her belief that education and active citizenship are inextricably linked.
“The women who began this school have helped realize the connection between education and healing a nation,” she said. They have helped me understand a global dimension of active citizenship.”
