Interprofessional Commission provides the muscle to solve complex social issues

Founded in 1973, the Interprofessional Commission of Ohio has served as a bridge between the academic and professional communities in order to address complex social, ethical, clinical and public policy issues.

Housed in Ramseyer Hall at Ohio State, the impact of the commission has been felt both near and far. At a national level, the commission gives leadership to both Project Unite and the Holmes Partnership in the areas of interprofessional education and comprehensive schools.

Closer to home, the commission helped found the Campus Collaborative, which spearheaded the University District revitalization efforts over the past five years and fostered University/community partnerships that helped Ohio State become a model of outreach for other universities.

The commission provides a home for the OSU Urban Schools Initiative, a collaborative between Ohio State and four central Ohio urban school districts to improve the quality of education in Ohio (see story below).

It also supports the P-12 Learning Bridge Program that partners Ohio State, Columbus Public Schools and the Columbus Education Association in an alliance working toward improving the quality of life and education of the University neighborhoods.

The commission brings together the expertise from many professions to focus on pressing social issues too complex for any one profession to solve, said Steve Harsh, director of the commission. Helping professions involved in the commission's work have included public health, medicine, nursing, allied medicine, law, social work, education, theology, psychology, counseling and pharmacy.

Major areas of emphasis over the commission's history are:

• Interprofessional credit courses offered to graduate and professional-level students in allied medicine, counseling, dentistry, education, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health, social work and theology.

• Technical assistance in collaboration that includes interprofessional planning and evaluation; training and education for communities, institutions and agencies; inter- and intra-agency organizations; asset and needs assessments for communities and agencies; community collaboration; and staff development.

• Continuing professional education, which provides conferences, workshops and staff development programs to address issues such as youth and ethical choices, gender issues in the professions, homelessness, AIDS, planning for the 21st century, women and children at risk, scarce resources, aging, bioethics and higher education/community partnerships.

• Program development and research from an interprofessional perspective.

• Public policy analysis, exploring emerging social issues that affect professional practice, conducted by interprofessional panels of scholars and practitioners. Panels have addressed such issues as alternative modes of human reproduction, health care cost containment, family violence, divorce mediation and stress management education.

"We don't have a lot of expertise in those areas," Harsh said. "Our strength is being able to draw together those people who do."

Panels often lead to professional conferences and to the development of courses taught at Ohio State. Harsh said the commission is currently recruiting experts for a panel to address ethical considerations in the rapid growth of technology, to be sponsored by the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy and Battelle.

With a history dating back many years, change has been a frequent ally of the commission. In 1973, it was created as the Commission on the Role of the Professions in Society. In 1975, start-up funds were granted by the Board of Regents and the name was changed to the Commission on Interprofessional Education and Practice.

In 1991, the commission was reorganized and renamed the Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, with Michael Casto named as director. In 1995, the commission was asked to assume coordination of the human services research and implementation of programs in education, human services, health care and employment for the University District neighborhood improvement programs within the Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment initiative.

A greatly expanded interdisciplinary community/University partnership known as the Campus Collaborative emerged in 1996 from interest in this work, growing to include 42 Ohio State units (including 16 colleges) and five community affiliates.

Additional changes have occurred over the past few months to further the commission's mission. To enhance the coursework offered by the commission, Casto assumed a faculty role and is now associate professor of interprofessional studies in the Counselor Education Program of the College of Education, as well as co-director of the Urban Schools Initiative. In September, Harsh was appointed director after serving as associate director for three years.

"Over the years dozens of outstanding faculty have taught in interprofessional courses. It is a great honor and an even greater challenge to be the first faculty member selected to focus their scholarship and teaching on interprofessional education and practice," Casto said. "The commission is now positioned to become the hub for teaching collaboration in the College of Education and the University."

The College of Education has served as fiscal agent for the commission from its inception, and funding has been provided from a variety of sources within and beyond Ohio State. However, under a new arrangement adopted July 1, the commission is now an agency within the college and responsible for raising all of its own financial support.

"A major focus of my new directorship is to look at ways to make that work," Harsh said. "In conjunction with the commission's board of trustees, I will be exploring ways to make the program financially stable, such as grant programs and direct fund raising involving our constituents."

Through the years, the commission has evolved to the point where it is now recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in interprofessional education, Harsh said. Additionally, through published works and addresses at national and international conferences, the commission's leaders have added prestige to the University.

"Thousands of students have taken our courses," Harsh said, "but the need for professionals and leaders trained to collaborate is greater now than ever because our society continues to become increasingly complex. And that's our mission -- to teach collaboration."

Urban Schools Initiative applies faculty research to K-12 reform

The College of Education, in partnership with four urban school districts in central Ohio, is working to improve K-12 education and make public schools better places to learn.

Formed in 1999, the Ohio State Urban Schools Initiative (USI) is part of a statewide program funded through a five-year, $1.7 million Martha Holden Jennings Foundation grant.

The partnership includes Columbus, Mansfield, South-Western and Springfield public schools, with special attention being given in Columbus to the six elementary and two middle schools that serve the University District. The overall focus is on research and the development of training programs to support the work of teachers and educators. Priority issues include student achievement; use of proficiency tests; aligning curriculum; teacher turnover and training; and the role of families and mentors in student learning.

OSU/USI is co-directed by Oliver Jones and Michael Casto, and is guided by a steering committee comprised of representatives from Ohio State, the four school districts involved, the Jennings Foundation and the Ohio Department of Education.

"I think it is important to point out that OSU and the four school districts were drawn to this project because of its five-year commitment to make substantial changes in not only teacher development and curriculum reform, but also in the way the University delivers services to the urban school districts," Jones said.

He noted that Ohio State faculty are encouraged to join the USI collaborative to help identify research projects that address the stated needs of the school districts.

"There are some challenges and opportunities for faculty to provide insight into the conditions under which teachers work and students learn in urban settings," Jones said.

Casto, associate professor of interprofessional studies in the Counselor Education Program of the College of Education, said that while USI is housed in the College of Education, it is designed to be inclusive of all colleges and departments within the University. "As the project expands to include science and math," Casto said, "we will be enlisting those faculty interested in projects that are responsive to the needs established by the steering committee."

The steering committee is responsible for the selection of collaborative projects undertaken in their districts. To date, it has approved funding for 16 different initiatives involving approximately 30 faculty and graduate students, Jones said. Recent projects focus on literacy, mathematics, parent support groups, use of proficiency tests, school/home reading, positive behavioral support and a leadership development Web network.

One such project involves a Web site titled "The Principal's Office" that guides K-12 principals to Web links to assist them in the various principal/teacher relationships they encounter over the course of a school year. Details are on the Web at www.osu.edu/urbanschools/principl/topic10.htm.

Stephen Pape, assistant professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, developed "Teacher-Researchers: Making a Difference in Mathematics Teaching and Learning Through Inquiry" for the Columbus and South-Western city school districts. Pape developed a sequence of master's-level courses that challenge teams of middle school teachers within schools to examine national standards in mathematics education in relation to local and state curricular mandates, to assess their own effectiveness through viewing videotapes of their classroom practice and to develop models for effective teaching in mathematics. The teachers' efforts are supported by a team of doctoral students in mathematics education and educational administration.

"This program has stimulated collegial relationships among teachers and between mathematics education and mathematics faculty members," Pape said. "Teachers report a heightened sense of professionalism as a result of participation in this program."

Another project, "KEEP Books: Parent-Child Sharing and Reading Achievement for Kindergartners," provided hundreds of students the opportunity to take home free storybooks written by staff members of the College of Education's Literacy Collaborative.

The benefits of the Urban Schools Initiative to Ohio State and the entire state are tremendous. It not only links directly to one of the University's major areas of emphasis, P-12 education reform, but provides an opportunity for faculty to engage in site-based research, Casto said.

OSU/USI builds upon the earlier work of the Ohio Department of Education's Urban Congress and the Urban Schools Initiative, which represent 21 urban school districts in Ohio. With larger student populations, a higher concentration of minority and special needs students, and a history of past economic and social barriers to overcome, these urban school districts face enormous challenges in the next decade to improve student performance.

For details on the OSU/USI project, call 688-4441, e-mail jones.1571@osu.edu, or visit the Web at www.osu.edu/urbanschools/. The statewide partner of OSU/USI is the Ohio Department of Education, Urban Schools Initiative. For details, call 466-2211.

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