The University of Virginia's "Teachers for a New Era" grant from the Carnegie Corporation and the Annenberg and Ford foundations fostered many groundbreaking innovations under the three "design principles" stipulated in the grant prospectus: it generated decisions about the education of K-12 teachers based on evidence; it involved faculty and administrators from the College of Arts and Sciences in those decisions; and it promoted a view of K-12 teaching as an evidence-based clincal practice.

Among a myriad of activities generated by the grant, some of the following stand out:

  1. Research associated with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS - http://www.teachstone.org/ and http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/pianta-class/index.htm), a reliable and valid measure of teaching performance that effectively predicts pupil outcomes. TNE helped particularly in the development of Secondary CLASS, applying an already powerful instrument for measurement of elementary school teachers to those in the upper grade levels.
  2. The grant provided startup funding for the Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) one of the nation's leading research centers on the improvement of K-12 teaching.
  3. Through its monthly faculty seminars on research issues on K-12 teacher education research, it helped to bring about the ISE-funded interdisciplinary post-doctoral training program funded.
  4. It created the Counterpoint Seminars, graduate courses that allow teacher education students to reflect on their Arts and Sciences training with an eye to teaching children.
  5. It created the Common Courses, groundbreaking interdisciplinary undergraduate courses modeled on the extraordinary versatility required of elementary school teachers.
  6. In cooperation with two local school divisions, it developed a powerful local induction program, offering support for novice teachers.
  7. It extended the extraordinary success of My Teaching Partner, an optimal model for providing support for both novice and experienced teachers.

CARNEGIE REPORTER ARTICLES

The Principal Investigator for TNE@UVA was the Provost and Vice President--first Gene Block, then Arthur Garson, Jr.

The University of Virginia remains grateful to the funders and its school division partners for their support during the period of the grant.