Our staff and partners highlight acts of courageous leadership, and opportunities for you and your community to engage in creating a vital shared future.
Since 2005, the Teachers for a New Era (TNE) Learning Network, of which I’m a co-director, has brought together 30 university teacher preparation programs from around the country to learn from one another’s successes and challenges. We at the TNE Learning Network know how a community of peers can spread the word about good ideas in innovative teacher preparation, and we’re not alone. ... more
It's National Teacher Appreciation Week and today is National Teacher Appreciation Day. I'd need a whole bushel of apples to thank all the teachers who had a positive impact in my life. How about you? ... more
This article originally appeared in the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation Spring 2013 newsletter.
SFACF joins statewide push to strengthen South Dakota philanthropy
Visibility is a big issue for nonprofits. No matter how important the mission, without an effective message, raising the money needed to make a difference is always a challenge.... more
As part of the Bush Foundation’s cross-function learning efforts, I joined the Educational Achievement Team on their April 8 site visit to the University of Minnesota, where we met with a most impressive team. The UMN is one of 14 partners working to improve their teacher training program as part of the Network for Excellence in Teaching (NExT). The team included College of Education and Human Development leaders plus key community partners. ... more
In 2010, the Bush Foundation challenged 14 teacher preparation programs in Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota to join the Network for Excellence in Teaching (NExT). The first three years of this partnership have been filled with planning, trial and error and much success, and it is exciting to be coming to a point in the project where we are able to see results. Our preparation programs have been changed—we approach the recruiting of ... more
