“The Work You Guys Have Done Has Really Enriched Our Program”

Digging Deeper:
Collaboration Focused on Teaching for the Present, and the Future

Over the past four years, we have been helping shape the future of teaching in Minneapolis Public Schools, ensuring that new teachers are developing a whole-child approach to teaching and learning! We have had the honor of working in close partnership with Dr. Dawn White to embed our Framework throughout MPS Academy – a “Grow Your Own” teacher preparation pathway for special education teachers run by the district. This has been a fulfilling experience for our team and for our partners within MPS Academy!

Over the past several years, we’ve:

embedded our Anchor Competencies Framework across MPS Academy modules to center a whole-child approach to teaching.
trained Faculty and Mentors on the use of our Framework to support teacher candidates.
designed resources to ensure the long-term sustainability of our efforts, as new faculty and mentors join the program.

Throughout the past year, we listened to and worked with MPS Academy Faculty and Mentors to develop NEW resources (e.g., our brand new special education companion guide for the Framework, lesson planning templates, tools to weave the Framework throughout courses) that can help teacher educators and teachers to build the skills, mindsets, and practices that support students’ social, emotional, and academic growth. Faculty and district partners have helped us understand how to encourage meaningful use of these newly developed resources, and how to shape future resources that educators can actively engage with and apply in practice. Our hope going forward is to share resources created through this initiative with teacher educators, education leaders, and teachers across the country.

Dr. Dawn White – one of the creators of MPS Academy – shared at our June resource sharing event about the work the Center has helped to sustain: “It’s not necessarily full circle, but it’s this idea of closure, like, we’ve got something that can keep it going on … I appreciate all the work that you’ve done, and that you keep sticking with it, and our candidates are really benefiting from it. I mean, we have teachers leaving the classroom all the time because they can’t… they don’t know the kids, they don’t know how to create an environment for the kids … I’m glad we’ve just kept the through line, and … it’s made it!”

When asked about a word to describe how they were feeling or what was on their mind at the end of our resource sharing day together, an MPS Academy faculty member shared, “Community. It feels really good to be among peers who share common ideas and vision. To affirm each other, like … developing community today. I’m feeling… Hope … I’m excited about the depth that I think I can do this with, in this next module.” Stay tuned for more details on the guides and resources we have in development!

Insights & Resources

Our partners at NDNU recently sat down with “UnscriptedIntelligence at FETC” – part of the Game Changers Podcast Series with Human Intelligence Movement – to discuss their work with our Center and what it means to integrate a focus on social, emotional, and cultural competencies alongside AI in ways that truly support the whole learner. Watch or listen to see how we’re working together to develop the human and technological capacities both students and educators need to thrive.

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CRTWC in Action:

Now & Next

Our Executive Director recently co-presented at the 2026 NASDTEC Conference with Dr. Bill Rhoades from the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC). The presentation outlined the Center’s facilitation of the Oregon SEL Self-Assessment & Reporting Workgroup – a workgroup formed in partnership with TSPC. The presentation shared about the workgroup’s process for developing novel self-assessment, reporting, and evaluation tools for Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) related to the social, emotional, and cultural dimensions of teaching. These tools map onto Oregon’s new standards for social and emotional learning in EPPs and represent a groundbreaking initiative to ensure EPPs are equipping the whole educator to reach and teach the whole child.

The SEL Self-Assessment & Reporting Workgroup. Final in-person meeting at Oregon State University – Corvallis, June 2026.

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