A TOTAL OF ELEVEN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS PART OF THIS NATIONAL TEACHERS FOR A NEW ERA INITIATIVE. PARTNERSHIP WITH ANNENBERG, FORD AND ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATIONS PUMPS MORE THAN $65 MILLION INTO REFORMING TEACHER PREPARATION
Seven institutions of higher learning — ranging from research universities to state institutions to historically Black colleges — are among those with schools of education chosen to be designated Teachers for a New Era schools following their recommendation by a prestigious national advisory panel and approval by the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Corporation of New York. Each school will receive a multi-million-dollar grant over five years, which the institution must match, to reform and reinvigorate its teacher education program in line with the three design principles of Teachers for a New Era initiative.
The seven institutions announced in this second round of competition join four others announced in 2002. This landmark initiative to strengthen K-12 teaching by developing state-of-the art schools of education, which are focused on evidence-driven teacher education programs, is expected to directly influence public policy leaders concerned with the quality of the nation's teachers.
This year, Boston College; Florida A&M University; the University of Connecticut; Stanford University; the University of Texas at El Paso; the University of Washington; and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee were chosen to participate in Teachers for a New Era in recognition of the capability of their teacher preparation programs and the university-wide commitment to the initiative. The grants will be dispersed over 2003 and 2004. These seven institutions join four others chosen in 2002: Bank Street College of Education in New York City; California State University, Northridge; Michigan State University; and the University of Virginia.
"Thanks to the support of the Annenberg and Ford foundations which are collaborating directly with the Corporation on this teacher education reform movement, there are now eleven institutions of higher education that education policymakers involved in setting the nation's agenda can turn to for research, practice and results about how to prepare teachers. We think these schools — in time — can make a difference in how teachers are educated and regarded as professionals," says Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Annenberg Foundation has contributed $11.5 million to this venture; the Ford Foundation contributed $5.75 million and the Rockefeller Foundation, with an initial contribution of $500,000, will ensure that Teachers for a New Era is evaluated and the lessons learned shared with educators across the country.
"We know from research that teachers are the single most important factor in a studen's achievement," says Dan Fallon, chair of Carnegie Corporation's education division and the designer of the Teachers for a New Era initiative, "and this design will strengthen the strategies that produce the most successful teachers."
The eleven schools of education have support from the top leadership at their colleges or universities and will pursue three critical design principles of Teachers for a New Era:
1. A culture of respect for evidence that includes looking at a graduate's effectiveness by documenting their student' achievements.
2. An effective engagement by the school of education with the arts and sciences.
3. A conception of teaching as a clinical practice that encompasses a period of residency following graduation to ensure responsibility for graduates' performance.
Full details of the Teachers for a New Era please read the prospectus.
Over the life of the Teachers for a New Era initiative, the Corporation and the other foundation collaborators expect to spend more than $65 million on this teacher education design. This year, each of the seven institutions will receive a $5 million commitment, over five years, which they must match locally. Additional foundation grants will cover evaluations and up to $500,000 that each university will share with its local partners including school districts and other teacher education programs.
Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." As a grantmaking foundation, the Corporation seeks to carry out Carnegie's vision of philanthropy, which he said should aim "to do real and permanent good in the world." The Corporation's capital fund, originally donated at a value of about $135 million, had a market value of $1.6 billion on September 30, 2002. The Corporation awards grants totaling approximately $80 million a year in the areas of education, international peace and security, international development and strengthening U.S. democracy.
