Memphis Business Journal - by Ashley M. Wislock -

Presbyterian Day School had been looking to develop a “public purpose.”

The school wanted to give back to the community and share its commitment to professional development, according to headmaster Lee Burns.

“A private school should have public purposes broader than the students they serve,” he says.

Now, a seven-figure donation from PDS parent and trustee Brad Martin has created the Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence and is making the school’s goal possible. The institute hopes to foster a spirit of development and giving for businesses and schools in the region.

And it’s not just PDS that will benefit from Martin’s gift. While it is based at PDS, the Martin Institute plans to bring teachers from across the Mid-South together to share ideas and resources in an effort to create opportunities for improvement, according to Clif Mims, director of the institute.

“The idea is that teachers from all schools and districts will have a more robust menu of professional development opportunities” he says.

The institute will host speakers, workshops and seminars featuring the nation’s top educational professionals for the region’s teachers, regardless of a school or district’s ability to pay for attendance. “The institute will share PDS resources with other teachers in the region,” Martin says.

The speakers and seminars will focus on the development of 21st century learning skills, such as critical and creative thinking, while showing the functional results in the classrooms of PDS, according to Burns.

Mims hopes such seminars will encourage teachers to foster creative and critical thinking skills.

“We’re living in a time when young people like to be entertained, and that oftentimes doesn’t gel with an attitude for learning and discovery,” he says.

The crown jewel of the new program is the teacher residency program, which will bring educators to the institute for an intensive year of mentoring and development. That will include teaching in a variety of school settings — urban, rural, public and private — and working with a mentor teacher to help guide them through the process.

For the 2010-2011 school year, five teachers have been selected for the program. In the future, 10 teachers per year will participate. This year’s residents are all recent college graduates and hail from Memphis, Germantown, Atlanta and Kennett, Mo., Mims says.

The institute is teaming with the University of Memphis to allow students interested in education as a career to get some early training and teaching experience, according to Mims.

But the teachers are not being prepared for professional placement in PDS, Burns says. The institute’s leadership hopes the teachers trained through the residency program go out into the Mid-South and use the skills they learned to enhance the community.

“The idea is that 10 years from now there could conceivably be 100 of these teachers who we invested this time in,” Mims says.

Martin agrees.

“The institute strives to help create a pipeline for more great teachers, specifically those who would become part of schools in the Memphis and Shelby County area and throughout the region,” he says.

Burns points to recent Memphis City Schools grants and awards to show that education is growing and developing.

“Between the Gates’ money, the Race to the Top funds, other reform efforts and now the Martin Institute, Memphis is entering a promising season for education.”

Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence

Professional development institute at Presbyterian Day School
Director: Clif Mims
Address: 4025 Poplar Ave.
Phone: (901) 842-4601
Website: www.martininstitute.org