Tuesdays and Thursdays With Boston's Inner-City Youth

Abstract

This article describes the prepracticum teacher preparation program at Boston University called The Tuesday-Thursday Program. Students are bused to Boston University in the fall and spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays for regular physical education classes, where professional preparation and research also are featured. The halcyon years were experienced during the court-order desegregation program of Judge Arthur Gamty when he sought equity for all Boston schoolchildren. The Tuesday-Thursday Program became a centerpiece and, by and large, achieved its goals. A residential field experience was added after the first two years of this 25-year program and became critically important in helping children mature and change and in assisting Boston University students in gaining vital teaching skills. Considerable research has been carried out since its inception with such variables as decision-making, social closeness, equity, instrument development and validation, involvement, and writing skills. The program has been evaluated each year and found to be serving its original purposes.