Serving as Chief Counselor to U.S. Secretary of Education and South Carolina Gov. Richard Riley provided Dr. Peterson the platform to help make many national and state advances in education.
GREENVILLE, SC, September 26, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Terry K. Peterson has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
For over a half a century, Dr. Peterson has been an innovator and partnership-builder for nationwide school-day improvements and impactful summer and afterschool opportunities. Dr. Peterson's journey is a unique one. Although he attended a rural two-room school house near Medford, Wisconsin, he has become a national leader of large-scale education improvements and is often referred to as "the godfather of afterschool."
He earned a BS in chemistry and teaching from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a doctorate in research and statistics from the University of South Carolina. He combined those degrees in pioneering ways with early community, parent organizing and teaching jobs, including in the Peace Corps, and with the Southern Education Foundation.
He and his allies were recently lauded for the rare, tangible achievements of two exemplary education initiatives. One nationwide initiative, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2023. Dr. Peterson was honored at the event for his unyielding leadership roles to grow the Centers from 7 locations in 1997 to 11,000 centers across American in 2023-24. The Centers have impressive results. More than 5 million students improved their math and reading, and 8 million students improved their classroom participation and homework.
Dr. Peterson also played a central role in developing and passing one of the nation's most comprehensive statewide education reform packages – the Education Improvement Act (EIA) in South Carolina. The law had an enormous impact: In just the first seven years, student reading and math skills were 21% higher; student absenteeism dropped 25%; SAT scores improved 35 points and African American SAT scores improved by 69 points, while teacher morale was the highest in the nation. The law's impact endures today with 12,000 local people serving on School Improvement Councils, and the law's sales tax generating $1.3 billion annually for better education opportunities for the 800,000 students in the state.
Serving as Chief Counselor to U.S. Secretary of Education and South Carolina Gov. Richard Riley provided Dr. Peterson the platform to help make many national and state advances in education. These experiences were also instrumental later in Dr. Peterson's roles expanding summer and after-school learning as an education advisor for the CS Mott Foundation and working with afterschool networks in all 50 states, a board leader at the Afterschool Alliance, the National Advisory Committee for Foundations Inc, and as Senior Fellow at the Riley Institute at Furman University, and previously at the University of South Carolina and College of Charleston.
Dr. Peterson helps build the next generation of education innovators in every state by chairing the White-Riley-Peterson Fellows, developing emerging afterschool and summer leaders, and assisting growing afterschool and summer networks in the 50 states. He has served for more than 30 years on the Arts in Basic Curriculum Institute, a unique organization started by Dr. Peterson's wife, Scott Shanklin-Peterson, to integrate more arts in learning.
Dr. Peterson has contributed to numerous publications throughout his career. His most recent publications are the go-to sources of information for expanding quality afterschool and summer learning.
Dr. Peterson has been recognized with numerous awards, including as a Champion of Children by Foundations Inc.; as the Architect for the Afterschool Movement by the Afterschool Alliance; the first inductee into the Medford (WI) Alumni Hall of Fame; Distinguished Alumni Award from the Univ. of South Carolina; and the Arts Education Lifetime Achievement Award from South Carolina's Gov. Nikki Haley.
Dr. Peterson credits his success to the people he has worked with throughout the years, including Sec. Riley and his wife, Scott, as well as his hard-working parents, Florence Peterson (who ran the family farm) and Morgan Peterson (a successful lumberjack and roadbuilder with an eighth-grade education). In the coming years, Dr. Peterson intends to continue his journey of positively impacting education, a mission that fills him with hope and optimism.
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Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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