For one week every August more than 1,000 plumbers and pipefitters from around the country come to Ann Arbor for a week of training to become instrucotrs in their local union, preparing apprentices and “journeypeople” for their profession. To become a certified instructor a person needs to successfully complete five consecutive years of one-week trainings.

The UA has asked the University of Michigan to assess and improve the quality of the pedagogical training. ISR (Johnston) and the School of Education (Freeman and Graves) are working together to achieve this goal over a period of four years. The budget in this proposal covers just the first nine months: April 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. Additional budgets will be prepared to cover 2011 and 2012 when better estimates of costs are available.