Woodrow Wilson Foundation Launches New Effort to Transform Policy and Practice for Teacher, School Leadership Prep through New Graduate School, and an Ed Research Lab Developed in Collaboration with MIT

PRINCETON, N.J., June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Launching a major national effort to dramatically improve teacher preparation and to help teaching and learning practices evolve for the 21^st century, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation today announced the establishment of a new graduate school, the Woodrow Wilson Academy for Teaching and Learning.

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The WW Academy is designed to transform teacher education as well as school leadership policy and practice nationally by providing competency-based master's degree programs in teaching and school leadership. In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the WW Academy will also serve as an incubator and innovation lab, studying what works and why in preparing teachers and education leaders, and offering new ideas and models to meet the needs of 21^st century schools.

"Today is an exciting day for the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, for higher education, and for the teacher preparation field," Woodrow Wilson Foundation President Arthur Levine said. "For too long, teacher education has relied on methods and approaches that simply have not adapted to reflect the challenges of the times. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation, in collaboration with MIT, seeks to offer real solutions that will help our nation's universities, school districts, and educators. The WW Academy will 'throw out the clock,' shifting the focus of certification from 'hours in class' to proven competency in the skills and knowledge every teacher and education leader needs to succeed."

The WW Academy is designed to meet the future needs of school districts and schools, ensuring prospective educators have the academic preparation, clinical experience, and supports necessary to succeed in a 21^st century classroom.

In collaboration with MIT's Office of Digital Learning, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation also intends the WW Academy to be the education equivalent of Bell Labs. Through controlled experiments on its own activities, the WW Academy will serve as a laboratory for exploring what works in teacher and school leadership education. 

These experiments will be designed in collaboration with researchers in the new MIT PK12 Initiative, which launches today with support from the WW Foundation. The MIT PK12 Initiative will work to promote new technologies, develop curricula and conduct research related to educator preparation. The effort will focus on supporting teachers in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for students from pre-kindergarten through the senior year of high school.

"Hands-on, problem-focused, curiosity-driven learning is squarely at the heart of an MIT education, and it will be central to MIT's work with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Together, we will combine MIT's 'mind and hand' approach to learning with recent breakthroughs in cognitive science and digital learning to inform the Woodrow Wilson Foundation's efforts to develop and support excellent STEM teachers and school leaders," said MIT President L. Rafael Reif. "We are thrilled to begin this effort to reimagine the classroom experience."

The WW Academy has received initial support from a wide range of philanthropic organizations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Amgen Foundation, Simons Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. It has also received $2 million in support from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Board of Trustees.

"Teacher quality matters," Amgen Foundation President Eduardo Cetlin said. "Today's global economy requires innovative, evidence-based approaches to develop the strongest teachers, particularly in rapidly evolving scientific fields. We're proud to support the WW Academy to create the new Amgen Biology Teacher Education Program, with the ultimate goal of inspiring the next generation to harness science and innovation to dramatically improve lives."

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SOURCE Woodrow Wilson Foundation