University Paideia

University Paideia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Stanford University graduate students Jack Schneider and Michael Dunson. The program is an intensive four week summer institute designed to give low-income students a greater sense of educational self-efficacy, a clearer understanding of concept formation, a higher level of comfort in an academic environment, and a greater ability to make connections between different topics and ideas. The program also has a second major objective – exposing college undergraduates interested in teaching to the actual practice of working with talented underserved students.

In its inaugural summer, 2008, the program brought together three undergraduates and 13 low-income students in a curriculum focused on teaching and learning. The program culminated in three days of school, entirely designed and run by teams of four to five high school students and one undergraduate.

Mission Statement:1. To improve the educational outcomes of high achieving minority students by using the collective energies and expertise of former and prospective teachers to provide high school students time and space for self-cultivation and the pursuit of their intellectual passions.

2. To encourage talented undergraduates to enter into the teaching profession, to do so with an understanding of the many possibilities in teaching, and to do so in traditionally underserved communities.

We aim to pursue this mission through a summer institute that will bring high school students, undergraduate prospective teachers, and former teachers together in a program that breaks down traditional school roles and enables the individuals involved to learn more from each other than when given narrower responsibilities. We ask teachers to be students and students to be teachers.

www.upaideia.org