Fetzer Grant

MIRANDA RECEIVES FETZER INSTITUTE RESEARCH GRANT

Dr. Twyla Miranda, professor of education and director of Graduates Studies in Education for Texas Wesleyan University, has been awarded a $76,530 Fetzer Institute research grant to study the effects of Courage & Renewal North Texas, a personal and professional development program, on school culture and TAKS scores in the Metroplex.

School culture – the relationships between teachers and students, administrators and teachers, and everyone involved with the school – affects school performance, says Miranda. “If you create a sense of trust among educators and students at a school, if people feel that that they have a voice and are happy with most of the outcomes, that will have a positive effect for the school.

Courage & Renewal – North Texas, directed by Cynthia Johnson and based on the Texas Wesleyan campus, aims to help professionals contribute to and foster a positive work environment through personal reflection and growth. The retreats and in-service programs, for educators, clergy, doctors, and other professionals, provide a safe space for professionals to examine their inner life in order to more completely carry out their jobs.

Miranda's proposal, “The Effects of Transformative Professional Development on Report Card Ratings and Organizational Cultures of Texas Schools,” will cover a three-year period of research. For the grant, 15 participants from three schools each year will participate in four retreats and one in-service day annually.

The Fetzer Institute, based in Kalamazoo, MI, is a private operating foundation that develops research and education programs that explore how love and forgiveness can effect transformation and healing for individuals and communities and are informed by both scientific rigor and spirituality. The Institute runs several nonprofit programs, including the Center for Courage and Renewal (formerly Courage to Teach), the parent organization of Courage and Renewal – North Texas.

Miranda has been a facilitator for Courage & Renewal – North Texas for eight years. A faculty member at Texas Wesleyan University since 1990, Miranda recently published Longfeather Ponds: A Chipmunk's Tale and Longfeather Ponds: A Bobcat’s Tale for second- through sixth-graders. Miranda's heartwarming children's adventures are the stories of animals that live in urban environments, surrounded by houses, golf courses and shopping malls. Their adaptive behavior provides the plot and impetus for each tale.

For more information on Courage & Renewal – North Texas, visit www.couragenorthtexas.org.

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