With several years of supporting teachers to become the best
in their field, last spring a private business decided to do more
to help a Kansas education group.
For nearly a decade, the Great Plains Center for National Teacher
Certification has assisted teachers seeking national board certification;
for the last six years the center has received supplemental support
from State Farm Insurance.
When the center, based out of Emporia State University’s Jones
Institute for Educational Excellence, prepared to move along with
the JIEE offices from Visser Hall to The Earl Center last year, the
insurance company decided to help all of JIEE’s programs by funding
a resource room available to the institute’s three flagship programs:
national teacher certification, the Kansas Future Teacher Academy,
and Reading Recovery.
“As state funding for higher education continues to be a growing
challenge, collaborative partners in business and industry are of
increasing importance,” said Acting Dean of The Teachers College Dr.
Phil Bennett. “We are very pleased with the $15,000 in additional
funding for the resource room and its expanded scope.
Its use is for national board candidates, as well as teachers
receiving Reading Recovery training – which helps young students having
difficulty in learning to read – and high school students interested
in education careers. It shows
the commitment a private business can have in promoting and sustaining
quality teaching in Kansas.”
The renovation, move of the JIEE offices, and creation of the
resource center was completed just days before JIEE hosted teachers
from across the state at the August 2004 National Board Orientation
Academy. Tara Eubanks, public affairs specialist with
the State Farm, Overland Park, Kan. office, was present for the event. Also
attending portions of the academy were: Amy Valenciano, State Farm
public affairs specialist from Wichita; Fred Fulks, State Farm Agency
Field Representative from Overland Park, Kan., local State Farm agents
Pete Euler, Vicki Burnett and Gene Reneau; State Senator James Barnett;
ESU Foundation Executive Director Boyce Baumgardner; Dr. Phil Bennett;
and ESU President Kay Schallenkamp.
State Farm has supported the academy for the last five years
with $5,000 gifts each year; this year the company awarded $6,000
for the August academy and $2,000 to fund an additional academy for
teachers working toward renewing their advanced national certification.
That academy will be held October 16 at the JIEE offices at The Earl
Center, 1601 State St.
Euler played a major role in advancing the original ESU proposal
to the State Farm Foundation Kansas-Oklahoma regional office in Tulsa
and has continued to support the Center’s proposals to the State Farm
Foundation.
“Tara Eubanks and our local State Farm agents – Pete Euler,
Vicki Barnett, and Gene Reneau – continue to demonstrate their commitment
to this orientation program, and have supported the advancement of
our proposal each year to the State Farm Foundation,” said Linda Sobieski,
director of the national teacher certification program at ESU. “Their
sustained efforts have made it possible for us to continue our orientation
program which has become a model of professional guidance and mentoring
for teachers throughout Kansas as they begin the rigorous, year-long
advanced certification process.”
Emporia State University has offered a program of professional
support for teachers seeking National Board Certification since 1993.
A NBPTS certificate shows that a teacher has been met high
and rigorous professional standards through national peer review.
It is one of the main ways the teaching profession recognizes excellence
among its ranks. Attendants
of this year’s academy were elementary and secondary teachers from
rural, suburban, and urban communities.
For more information about JIEE’s resource room, the NBPTS
program at ESU, visit the JIEE web site at www.emporia.edu/jones. For
more information about the State Farm gift, contact Tara Eubanks,
with the State Farm Insurance Companies Overland Park office at 913-814-6915.
