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Press Release

New York, NY (January 24, 2008) - The Teagle Foundation and The Spencer Foundation today announced a funding commitment of $1,493,920 for a program based at Duke University in support of efforts to systematically strengthen undergraduate education at major research universities. When the project is completed, it will offer valuable new insights into best pedagogical practices and help spark new interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning. In addition, it will better inform the efforts of the higher education community in responding to the demand for greater accountability on college campuses.

"Perhaps the biggest challenge facing higher education today is to develop systematic ways of improving undergraduate learning. That requires continuous experiment and evaluation," said W. Robert Connor, president of the Teagle Foundation. "Bob Thompson and his colleagues at Duke will bring leadership and insight to this process."

The project, Systematic Improvement of Undergraduate Education in Research Universities, will be led by Duke's Robert J. Thompson, Jr., Professor of Psychology and Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. The participating faculty at ten major research universities, to be selected through a competitive process, will focus on teaching and learning initiatives that develop the core intellectual skills of a liberal education: writing and critical thinking. Over a three-year period, the universities involved will develop initiatives that specify student learning outcomes, evaluate those outcomes and then use the results to revise and improve educational practices.

"The goal of this project is to see that the rigorous methods of academic research are applied to the study of teaching and learning in the classroom," said Michael S. McPherson, president of the Spencer Foundation. "I am excited by the possibilities of this collaboration, which brings together Spencer's focus on strengthening education through solid research, the Teagle Foundation's interest in ground-up efforts to strengthen student learning and Bob Thompson's deep experience both as a researcher and as a senior administrator at Duke University."

The project is to begin immediately, funded initially by a $493,920 grant to Duke University, and subsequently by $1,000,000 in grants to the ten participating campuses. Campuses will be selected on the basis of responses to a Request for Proposals to be issued in January 2008, and wrap up their work in spring of 2011. Following the completion of the work, Robert Thompson will synthesize the project's findings in a book to be organized around the evidence for effective teaching and learning practices in the development of writing and critical thinking skill.

"If this program is successful," said Robert Thompson, "we will have taken the first crucial steps not only toward enhancing student performance, but to transforming higher education institutions into places where improvements in undergraduate education are the norm, the inevitable result of the kind of culture of experimentation and evidence that we hope to build."

About the Teagle Foundation

The Teagle Foundation is committed to providing intellectual and financial leadership in the effort to promote and strengthen liberal education. The Foundation's Outcomes and Assessment initiative seeks to promote the development and use of faculty-driven value added assessment to improve learning outcomes and teaching methods. The Teagle Foundation has funded 50 grants as part of its Outcomes and Assessment initiative, which totals over $7 million and has involved over 100 institutions around the country. For additional information about the Teagle Foundation and its programs, please visit our website at www.teaglefoundation.org.

About the Spencer Foundation

The Spencer Foundation was established in 1962 by Lyle M. Spencer. The Foundation is intended to investigate ways in which education, broadly conceived, can be improved around the world. From the first, the Foundation has been dedicated to the belief that research is necessary to improvement in education. The Foundation is thus committed to supporting high-quality investigation of education through its research programs and to strengthening and renewing the educational research community through its fellowship and training programs and related activities.

About Duke University

Duke, a research university in Durham, North Carolina, is consistently counted among the nation's best institutions in undergraduate education. Its graduate and professional schools—in business, divinity, engineering, the environment, law, medicine, and nursing—are leaders in their fields.

Contact information:

Teagle Contact:
Donna Heiland
212-373-1972