Minnesota State University, Mankato has been selected by the Bush Foundation for a groundbreaking new partnership to transform teacher-preparation programs in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Over the next 10 years Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Education will collaborate with 13 other higher education institutions to produce a total of 25,000 new, effective teachers, and to guarantee their effectiveness.
The new initiative – part of the Bush Foundation’s “goal for a decade” to increase educational achievement across Minnesota and the Dakotas – was announced today in St. Paul by Bush Foundation President Peter C. Hutchinson and presidents of the participating universities.
The partnership will dramatically change how colleges and universities recruit, prepare, place and support K-12 teachers, and how higher education institutions work with their K-12 partners. To support the effort’s success, the Foundation is investing more than $40 million in the 14 universities and in related activities.
“We’re pleased that the Bush Foundation has selected Minnesota State University, Mankato to help transform teacher effectiveness across the region,” said President Richard Davenport. “This landmark effort offers the best chance in our lifetime to make dramatic improvements in the way colleges work together with schools and teachers to guarantee effective solutions that meet the needs of children, families and society.”
“Our university has a long history of embracing big ideas and applying real-world thinking to make tangible differences in people’s lives,” Davenport added. “This collaboration leverages our strengths, including Dr. Michael Miller’s exceptional leadership as dean of our College of Education. Dr. Miller and our faculty, with the help of our public school partners, have developed many new ideas that will transform teacher effectiveness.”
“We are thrilled to participate in this forward-looking Bush Foundation initiative,” Miller said. “When our students – the teachers of tomorrow – succeed, our children are well-served. Exceptional teachers create exceptional schools and strong communities.”
“We all must embrace responsibility for the success of our educators, and we are proud to collaborate with the Bush Foundation through our teaching, our research and our work with area schools,” Miller added.
Susan Heegaard, vice president and educational achievement team leader for the Bush Foundation, said the participating universities took part in a rigorous, nine-month planning process “during which they redesigned their teacher preparation programs. In each case, the universities are taking a bold, courageous stance in guaranteeing the effectiveness of the teachers they train.”
Heegaard said the Foundation’s investment will allow the institutions to develop and implement their redesigned programs starting with the 2010-‘11 academic year.
The Foundation asked its partner institutions to use three strategies to promote and support teacher effectiveness:
Minnesota State Mankato and its public-school partners (school systems in Bloomington, Faribault, Gaylord-Arlington-Green Isle, Le Sueur, Mankato, Owatonna, St. Paul, St. Peter and Waseca) will create a pipeline of strong teacher candidates by aggressively identifying, involving, mentoring and advising candidates. Miller likens the process to the model used for recruiting star athletes.
The program includes two years of school experience focusing on the real instructional needs of E-12 learners. Miller said nearly all of the Minnesota State Mankato candidates’ school experience will involve instruction by teams of master teachers and faculty.
“We are working with the Bush Foundation to drastically improve all of our teacher and school leader programs by making them school-based,” he said. “We have strong buy-in from school partners, Arts & Sciences faculty and administration, and state officials. This will alter all of our traditional and alternative programs.”
“It is an investment in teacher quality and retention, focusing on ongoing development and support, and instructional teams that include teacher candidates and college faculty,” Miller added.
“These are big goals,” said Bush Foundation President Hutchinson. “They’re challenging. And we know we can’t achieve them alone.” The partner universities will “help show us the way,” he added.
“Minnesota State Mankato is honored to be a part of this innovative effort, and I know that our faculty, our E-12 partners and the other participating institutions are working hard to reach this goal,” Minnesota State Mankato President Davenport said. “I thank the Bush Foundation for expressing confidence in what we do. Together we can go further than anyone thought possible to improve educational achievement and serve the people of Minnesota, our region and our nation.”
The Bush Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife Edyth. The Foundation strives to be a catalyst to shape vibrant communities in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota by investing in courageous and effective leadership that significantly strengthens and improves the well-being of the states’ citizens.
More information about the Foundation may be found at www.bushfoundation.org.
Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Education, with 1,100 undergraduate and 600 graduate students, provides cutting-edge research and forward-looking leaders for school districts throughout Minnesota.
Three of the university’s four doctoral programs prepare superintendents, principals and other educators for high-level responsibilities in public school districts. The Ed.D. in educational leadership provides cutting-edge professional development for leaders of PK-12 schools. The Ed.D. in counselor education and supervision prepares counseling and student affairs professionals for supervisory roles. And the Doctor of Psychology program in school psychology prepares professionals to serve as school psychologists.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive, doctoral university with 14,950 students and two satellite sites, is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, which comprises 32 institutions across the state.
For a link to a Bush Foundation video of the Dec. 3 announcement, as well as a foundation news release and more information about the initiative, go to http://www.bushfoundation.org/education/PC_Resources.asp.
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