$150,000 Bush Foundation Grant Builds Capacity to Support Diversity in Teaching

Augsburg College’s Department of Education was recently awarded a $150,000 grant from the Bush Foundation as part of their Teacher Effectiveness Initiative (TEI) to support diversity in teaching. Augsburg was one of five schools selected to receive this one time award. Dr. Peg (Margaret) Finders, Chair and Associate Professor of Education, will lead the project in partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), and St. Paul Public Schools.

The goal of the project is to build capacity to recruit and support students of color moving through multiple educational institutions towards a degree in teaching. The team will create a coordinated, sustainable infrastructure that will reduce attrition and recruit high quality teacher candidates. The new infrastructure will help the partner institutions foster smooth transitions into teaching, engage in proactive recruitment of teacher candidates of color from multiple entry points, and improve experiences for teacher candidates of color.

This project builds on strengths of the Education departments’ East African Student to Teacher program and Special Education program.