Cultural institutions have the capacity to provide teachers with material resources for curriculum use in the classroom, professional support through connection to professional learning communities, promotion of self-confidence in teaching, and gains in subject content knowledge. There is building evidence that these types of support systems help novice teachers (i.e., teachers in their first three year of teaching), however many teachers do not have access to such support. And while access to resources is important for novice teachers, there is also evidence that access does not guarantee the use of resources. This descriptive study explores the inclusion of cultural institutions as partners in novice teacher support programs though the investigation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Key to the City Pass (KCP), which provides new teachers access to over 22 local cultural institutions. I also investigate how novice teachers develop and use the skill of relational agency -the ability to "work fluidly across professional boundaries" (Edwards, 2005a p. 177) and understand the utility of materials for problem solving. I hypothesize building the skill of relational agency helps novice teachers' better access KCP resources for professional use. Thus, four research questions drive this study; 1) How do teachers use KCP benefits? 2) Do teachers who participate in the KCP program incorporate community/cultural institution resources in their teaching practices, and if so how? 3) What barriers exist, and how can the KCP program be made more accessible for teachers? 4) Do participant teachers display the skill of relational agency, does this skill apply to KCP use? I used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze data and document teachers' use of the KCP through: (1) a teacher survey, (2) semi-structured focus group interviews, and (3) case study teacher interviews and artifact analysis. The quantitative survey data was analyzed first to gather general patterns of KCP use across participant teachers. I analyzed survey data using descriptive and inferential statistics. The qualitative data was analyzed in a second phase to gather information about how teachers use KCP resources. For the qualitative data analysis, I used deductive coding. Findings indicate that participants were mostly using the KCP program for personal reasons (e.g., trips with friends and family), and that they were able to connect with the local community through these trips. Through personal trips, teachers were also able to assess whether taking field trips to certain cultural institutions was appropriate for their students. Few teachers used the skill of relational agency in connection to the KCP and noted they were more likely to use cultural institution resources if they were clearly connected with state and district standards. Teachers were also more likely to use cultural institution resources if they had the opportunity to collaborate with cultural institution staff. This study enabled me to observe barriers to KCP use before generalizing how such a program might be created in other cities. Which in turn allowed me to understand the steps other cities should take in order to build stronger partnerships. Based on my findings of the barriers to KCP use I suggest cities who wish to form partnership programs: 1) gather input from all constituents, 2) create a strong mission statement, 3) connect to district wide initiatives, and 4) ensure a pathway for clear and continual communication between partners and participants.
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