Purpose of the Center for Teaching Excellence

The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) supports and disseminates effective and innovative teaching and learning practices in the public schools and universities of New Mexico. Through several grant programs, research, publications, resources, consultants and CTE-sponsored workshops, we encourage educators to implement a wide variety of successful teaching and assessment strategies, and share the results with others.

What makes this program unique in New Mexico is that we systematically link the expertise of university faculty in research, content areas, assessment and dissemination with the expertise of innovative, caring public school educators who are motivated to make a difference for New Mexico students. Working together we create partnerships to improve teaching practices and learning outcomes.

The program also links university and public school partners with professional educational associations in New Mexico. Our grant recipients share the results of their projects and research at statewide conferences, in addition to local workshops and presentations at the Center for Teaching Excellence Action Research Conference held each summer.

CTE grants have been awarded to a majority of the 89 New Mexico school districts and to faculty from Eastern New Mexico University, New Mexico Highlands University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, New Mexico State University, Western New Mexico University and University of New Mexico.

The Center for Teaching Excellence is funded by the New Mexico State Legislature through Eastern New Mexico University.

How We Do It

Grants
Currently the Center for Teaching Excellence sponsors five categories of grants for New Mexico public school and university educators:

Action Research Grants
University Collaborators
Professional Development Project Grants
University-Initiated Project Grants
Effective University Instruction Research Grants

CTE Resource Materials
Our library contains books, journals, videos, software and other material on topics relevant to improving instruction in grades K-12 and higher.

How We Share It

Publications
Project and research results are disseminated through two editions of our newsletter, Teaching Excellence, to 26,000 teachers and administrators and 3,000 university faculty in New Mexico. These newsletters also publicize the support available through the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Annual CTE Conference
Teachers and university collaborators present the results of their Action Research Grants at the annual Center for Teaching Excellence Conference. The conference, held in June, is an exciting opportunity for all educators and interested individuals to see what is best and brightest in New Mexico teaching and learning. Download the 2006 conference registration form.

Statewide Conference Presentations
Grant winners share the results of their projects at several statewide professional educational organization conferences. We also coordinate with other organizations and projects dedicated to improving education for New Mexico's learners.