Abstract
Increasingly, educators, parents, businesses, and government leaders, frustrated with the performance of our educational institutions, have been taking concrete steps to forge systematic linkages between the K-12 grades and higher education. One of the most important types of relationships involves what is known as a "partnership" where schools and colleges pledge to cooperatively bridge their differences, establish formal and informal communication networks, provide professional development for teachers and administrators, improve the pre-college curriculum, and facilitate the transition of students from high school to college. One of these partnerships was developed by Bridgewater State University in 2012 in conjunction with the New Bedford Public Schools in Massachusetts. Differently from other partnership programs in the nation, which tend to focus almost exclusively on high school students, the Bridgewater Partnership Program chose instead a collaboration with a middle school in New Bedford, located in an urban area with a high concentration of ethnic minority students, a chronic record of high dropout rates, high absenteeism, and low academic achievement. This study explores how this partnership came to be, what it sought to achieve, what challenges it faced, and what ultimately has happened to it. Using an oral history methodology, the program is examined through the eyes and voices of four key persons largely responsible for founding the partnership program and who are no longer associated with the program or with the institutions they then led.