College students rock a campus of expelled students

Beginning in the fall of 2005, an innovative collaboration has introduced music into the lives of at-risk students, and at the same time brought University students into our neediest communities. Through the concept of service learning, music students from California State University Fresno have been working in classrooms of the Fresno County Office of Education’s Teilman Education Center where they have the opportunity to give expelled students insight into an oft neglected topic - music. This program benefits not only Teilman students by providing an opportunity to encounter positive role models in their own environment, it also gives the Fresno State students a chance to share the fruits of their own education with an underserved student population. As the college students mentor youth, they also benefit from the feedback and experienced perspective provided by the Teilman classroom teachers observing the lessons. The teachers have been highly enthusiastic about the impact this program has had on the Teilman Center students. In the past year, this program has expanded by bringing Teilman students to Fresno State, giving them an opportunity to experience firsthand a college environment that they may have never considered open to them. This is one of many examples of how our local educational institutions work together to serve our area youth and benefit our entire community.

The immediate impact was a reduction in student misbehaviors, and an improvement in student attitudes in class.We used an informal assessment given to the classroom teachers. This semester we intend to analyze student disciplinary referral data for the past two years to give us a baseline. We'll then compare it to this year's data to measure the correlation between having the project going and an anticipated reduction in disciplinary referrals.

The Teilman Education Center is a school for students who have been expelled within the County of Fresno. Our partnership with the CSUF Music Department focuses on bringing aspects of music education not traditionally offered to at-risk students, with the goal of expanding their awareness of music as well as making connections with college and college students.