| Minutes: It is the intention of The School Board of 
              Palm Beach County, FL and the FAU Board of Trustees to create one 
              or more Substituting with Mentors and Realistic Teaching (SMaRT) 
              sites in schools throughout Palm Beach County, FL. A SMaRT site is 
              defined as an elementary, middle, or high school where public 
              school and university personnel work together to facilitate high 
              levels of learning by all children of the school by using FAU 
              students as substitute teachers to work under the direction of an 
              FAU mentor. The SMaRT program is designed to promote a better 
              school environment for the preparation of teachers while providing 
              appropriate content instruction for children when their teacher is 
              absent from school. Through the collaboration efforts of pupils in 
              the school, pre-service educators, practioners in the school, 
              master mentors, and university faculty, a SMaRT site becomes an 
              exemplary learning environment for the enhancement of public 
              education. This relationship will be dedicated to improving the 
              quality of pre-service and in-service teaching. The SDPBS and FAU 
              will combine resources and provide leadership for the development 
              of the SMaRT sites. Through collaborative pre-service and 
              in-service education, both institutions and their faculties will 
              benefit and be better able to provide improved learning 
              environments for children and professional education students. The 
              purpose of this relationship is to enable the parties to 1) 
              Improve the performance of respective students of each, 2) Extend 
              mutual research and grant capacity, 3) Apply and model promising 
              teaching practices, 4) Promote targeted pre-professional 
              instruction and continuous professional development to improve 
              student performance, 5) Inform and improve school and university 
              instruction, and 6) Test innovation means to develop new education 
              professionals. |