Terry Peterson, senior education fellow at the College of Charleston, has been named one of the 25 most influential people in the afterschool community. The list is compiled by the National AfterSchool Association (NAA).
Terry Peterson, senior education fellow at the College of Charleston
“As nominations poured in from NAA members around the country, we focused our selection on those leaders whose service, research, and action influence and impact large numbers of children and families,” said Gina Warner, National AfterSchool Association executive director. “In so doing, these leaders bring positive attention and investment to the field of afterschool.”
In addition to his work with the College’s School of Education, Health, and Human Performance, Peterson recently served as the executive editor of a landmark book on expanded learning and enrichment afterschool and summers, Expanding Minds and Opportunities that is being now used across America by schools and community and youth groups.
[Related: Read more about Expanding Minds and Opportunities.]
Peterson is one of only a handful of people who for eight years each has been both the top education advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Education and to a governor. At the U.S. Department of Education, he helped design and lead, for U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, a number of major national initiatives ranging from reading to college access and from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers to the Partnership for Family Involvement.
As director of education in the South Carolina governor’s office, Peterson oversaw issues from preschool to medical education. He was the lead staff person for a widely praised statewide $2 billion, 7-year education improvement package that included early childhood initiatives; a statewide teacher recruitment center; gifted programs for academically and artistically talented students; expansion of Advance Placement course availability and accessibility; school, principal and teacher performance pay programs; innovation funds for teachers and schools; new education accountability systems; and the arts in the basic curriculum.
“We’re proud to have Dr. Peterson as a senior fellow at the College of Charleston and commend him on being named to this prestigious group,” says Dean Fran Welch, School of Education, Health, and Human Performance. “He is one of only two individuals from the South represented on the list and his advocacy for afterschool is having a tremendous in our community, state, region and nation.”
