Public Education Business Coalition (PEBC)

History PEBC’s origins date back to 1983 and the release of the Nation At Risk report by The National Commission on Excellence in Education. The Commission believed that the public education system was failing to meet the national need for a competitive workforce. With funding from the Ford Foundation, several communities created local education funds to concentrate efforts on quality teaching initiatives. PEBC has worked with more than 17,000 principals and teachers in K-12 education, impacting over 1,000 schools, and one million students. Initially PEBC’s focus was on supporting teachers with literacy and reading comprehension instructional practices. In 1997 PEBC staff published the ground-breaking book Mosaic of Thought: Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop which drew thousands of teachers to Denver wanting to work with and observe PEBC staff applying literacy best practices in their own classrooms. The organization expanded its efforts to coach teachers nationally, and created its highly-respected PEBC Lab Classrooms. In 2004 PEBC expanded its focus to include professional learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) instructional best practices and launched the PEBC Teacher Residency teacher preparation program (formerly the Boettcher Teacher Residency). Today, PEBC has grown into an organization with an unrivaled reputation for its professional development model, its publications, and the expertise of its staff. PEBC is headquartered in Denver, CO, and works both locally and nationally. Its Board is comprised of both business executives and school superintendents.