Paideia

National Paideia Center

NewsRelease

University News Service

P.O. Box 26170

Greensboro, NC 27402-6170

Telephone (336) 334-5371

Fax (336) 334-3418

(Posted 7-24-01)
News Service Contact: Steve Gilliam, 336-334-5371

NATIONAL PAIDEIA CENTER RECEIVES
OVER $700,000 IN CONTRACTS

GREENSBORO—The National Paideia Center has recently received over $700,000 in contracts to continue and expand its educational program in schools across North Carolina and other states.

The center has been affiliated with the School of Education at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro since 1998. Dr. Terry Roberts is director of the center, which has its offices at 100 S. Elm St., in downtown Greensboro.

Since 1998, contracts to implement the Paideia program have totaled over $2,727,000. The funding will continue and expand previous Paideia training and will facilitate whole-school incorporation of the program. Trainers will be visiting the schools for training sessions and technical support meetings. The contracts were awarded by the following school systems:

Guilford County (N.C.) Public Schools, $34,000.
Bridgeton (N.J.) Public Schools, $140,000.
Daviess County (Ky.) Public Schools, $49,140.
Hamilton County (Tenn.) Schools, $26,400.
Jersey City (N.J.) Public Schools, $57,000.
Lancaster (Pa.) Public Schools, $37,100.
Pueblo (Colo.) Public Schools, $22,100.
San Clemens (Wis.) Public Schools, $33,000.
Yonkers (N.Y.) Public Schools, $30,000.
Spencer (Conn.) Public Schools, $17,000
Tacoma (Wash.) School District, $46,060.
Jefferson Parish (La.) Public Schools, $57,000.
Elizabeth (N.J.) Public Schools, $121,000.

Founded in 1988 the center is a non-profit organization, which helps school systems implement the Paideia Program, a student-centered educational reform movement with a national following. The center is currently working with schools in 12 states: North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and Wisconsin. North Carolina has the greatest concentration of Paideia Schools, with school sites in Guilford County, Forsyth County, Asheville, Fayetteville, Charlotte and Roanoke Rapids. Including Roberts, the Center has a full-time staff of five.

Mortimer Adler, the philosopher and educator who died in late June of this year, is considered to be the founder of the Paideia movement. Adler and a group of like-minded educators expressed their ideas in “The Paideia Proposal,” which was published in 1982. Paideia is based on 12 principles, which are designed to create a school culture that challenges and nurtures all students in an open and democratic way. Paideia schools integrate three types of teaching: didactic instruction through lecture and demonstration, coaching sessions for developing intellectual skills, and seminars to enhance literacy, problem solving and critical thinking.

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