Ayers Institute celebrates 10 years of impact

New professional development program for teachers in rural districts announced at anniversary celebration.

Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078  |  12/20/2022

Ten years ago, then-dean of the Lipscomb College of Education Dr. Candice McQueen and Tennessee philanthropists Jim and Janet Ayers came together to plant a seed, and this fall Lipscomb University celebrated the fruit of that seed: a decade of positive impact on the lives of students around the state.

The Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation was established in 2012 to fill a gap that McQueen described at the institute’s 10th anniversary breakfast this fall as “a gap between expectations and where teachers were performing.”

“It was at a time in the history of Tennessee where education was under attack,” said Janet Ayers at the celebration. “Instead of focusing on how to empower and lift up teachers, we were changing the way we did evaluations, and we were talking a lot about accountability.

“The reason the Ayers Institute was different was that we created an opportunity to support teachers, to give them the tools and the resources they needed, regardless of where they were located,” she said.

The institute was the vision of McQueen, who served as education dean from 2008 to 2014 and now serves as President of Lipscomb University. McQueen wanted to provide additional resources for education practitioners in the field, and she found partners in spirit and impact in the Ayers, of Parsons, Tennessee, who had established the Ayers Foundation in 1999 to “improve the quality of life for the people of Tennessee by positively affecting the fields of education, conservation and social welfare.”

"I am sure that the first seeds of the Ayers Institute can be traced back to many deep visioning conversations had between Dr. McQueen and Mr. and Mrs. Ayers,” said Dr. Rachael Milligan, the current director of the Ayers Institute and assistant dean in the College of Education.

The institute’s initial focus was on collaborating with other teacher preparation faculty across the state to foster best practices to equip pre-service teachers to enter the classroom prepared from day one. This collaboration took on the form of a statewide advisory board, multiple trainings throughout the state and collaboration with faculty from a variety of higher education institutions.  

During this initial phase, the Ayers Institute was propelled forward by the support of the Ayers and collaboration with entities such as the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, the Tennessee College Access and Success Network, the State Collaborative on Reforming Education and the Tennessee Department of Education.

Over the next several years, the Ayers Institute would expand its reach and its focus, by not only concentrating on the needs of teacher preparation faculty and pre-service teachers, but also on the need of in-service teachers, school leaders and instructional coaches. The Ayers Institute partnered in long-term GEAR UP grants, a LEAD grant, a Math and Science Partnership grant, several projects with the Tennessee Department of Education and began professional learning partnerships with districts from all over Tennessee and in surrounding states.

“The Institute came to be known as a go-to organization for professional learning needs of both urban and rural districts, independent schools and community organizations,” said Milligan. “Partners knew that they could count on the Ayers Institute to be strategic collaborators—truly the bridge by which others crossed to reach their dreams and professional learning goals.”

The institute hosted conferences to bring educators together; launched eduTOOLBOX, a resource-sharing website for educators around the world; and hosted coaching academies, “a professional learning series that is consistently described as mindset-shifting and even life-changing,” said Milligan. 

The Ayers Institute was an early adopter of digital delivery formats for professional learning with online courses, live webinars and podcasts.

Eventually, the Ayers Institute grew into the early childhood education realm, partnering with the Nashville Mayor’s Office, United Way and the Blueprint for Learning to recruit teachers and other experts to create resources for early childhood educators in the Nashville area. At this point, the Institute could officially claim that its suite of resources supported educators at all levels – from pre-K teachers and leaders to higher education teacher-preparation faculty.  

In 2020, driven by the pandemic, the institute partnered with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, SCORE and the Ayers Foundation to support more than 18 rural districts through the Tennessee Rural Acceleration and Innovation Network – providing over 182 professional learning days in 18 months.

That work during the pandemic led to a new initiative announced at the anniversary breakfast this fall. Lipscomb’s new Rural Education and Coaching Certificate will build upon the institute’s partnerships with dozens of rural districts across the state to bring their teachers specific professional learning, coursework and field experiences that focus on the challenges and opportunities unique to rural districts. The new program is a way to expand rural community support into other fields, such as health sciences, as well.
 

Since it was launched, the Ayers Institute has engaged or partnered with 46 Tennessee school districts for seminars, in-person and virtual professional learning and just-in-time coaching support. Educators in all 95 Tennessee counties have accessed Ayers’ courses, engaged in webinars or used INVEST videos. Educators in all 50 U.S. states and 135 nations around the world have grown in their professional practice through eduTOOLBOX, podcasts and other digital tools.  

“I think we've shown what is possible: that you can be excellent in teacher preparation while supporting teachers,” said McQueen. “You can bring exceptional people and resources together to ensure that you have phenomenal things happening for every student every day in every classroom. It's absolutely possible. 

“If you listen to the news or you read the newspaper, you would think it's impossible, but we've seen in the work we've done, that when people come together with the right vision, the right resources and the right support, excellence happens,” she said.