Our staff and partners highlight acts of courageous leadership, and opportunities for you and your community to engage in creating a vital shared future.
Solid research on what effective school principals know and are able to do to increase student achievement has increased dramatically during the past decade. Currently, a majority of states are developing educator effectiveness systems that assess teacher and school leader knowledge, skills and dispositions so they can be continually strengthened. ... more
When the Bush Foundation launched its partnership with 14 higher educational institutions to change the way teachers are recruited, prepared, placed and supported, it knew many types of reform would be called for, including in the ways schools assess teacher effectiveness. ... more
As educators have long known, their multiple efforts to help students “light their own fires” of learning don’t routinely work the way they expect. Lots of factors contribute to the range of student outcomes, including variations in the demographic mix of students in each class, the culture of the school, the complexity of subject matter, the persistent determination and ingenuity of teachers, the quality and availability of ongoing professional support for teachers to improve their craft, and the capacity of families to support learning. ... more
Prairie Business Magazine recently named Valley City State University (VCSU) President Dr. Steve Shirley one of the 40 under 40 business leaders who are making a difference in North Dakota and South Dakota. In recognizing Dr. Shirley’s leadership, the magazine cited VCSU’s three consecutive years of growth and the creation of two new academic centers. ... more
