Grants
2006 Dr. Albert Upton Award

Thinking Foundation has announced that the 2006 Upton Award has been awarded to Learning Prep School of West Newton, MA.  Learning Prep School has been providing a rich educational environment for language and learning-disabled students from over 110 communities throughout the New England region since 1970. With exceptional leadership from Director Nancy Rosoff and insightful and creative teaching by its faculty, this school has dedicated itself to the explicit and continuous cognitive development of all of its students through Thinking Maps over the past five years.  Through this process—and with ongoing support from Vice Principal Cynthia Manning--they have fully integrated Thinking Maps into the core of teaching, learning and leadership at the school.

Every year Thinking Foundation gives the Upton Award to a school or school system meeting three criteria.  The school or system: does groundbreaking, foundational work on the facilitation of thinking through Thinking Maps; documents and formally shares their work with the field so that educators in the field may learn from their experience; and, through doing so, supports those who are in the greatest need in the educational process.

Learning Prep is the first recipient of this award.  There are many schools that were considered for this honor, but Learning Prep School stands out because of their extensive documentation of individual student work, the comprehensive and adaptive use of Thinking Maps, the significant changes in student performance, and the multifaceted research conducted by Cynthia Manning, Vice Principal at Learning Prep.

After being informed of the award in late 2006, Director Nancy Rosoff was sent a copy of Dr. Albert Upton's original book, Design for Thinking (1960), a work that offered the background for the Thinking Maps model, and a check for $1,500. for Learning Prep School.  There are no guidelines for the use of this money, though we at Thinking Foundation hope that recipients will consider using the funds for continuing to support the facilitation of thinking processes at their school.

In addition, and reflective of the purpose of this award, Thinking Foundation and Thinking Maps, Inc. have invited Cynthia Manning to present her research, results and experiences from Learning Prep at the 3rd Annual Thinking Maps Conference in Grapevine, Texas, July 13-14, 2007. Dr. David Hyerle, founder of Thinking Foundation, will introduce Cynthia to the conference attendees and formally announce the award to Learning Prep School.

Read more about Learning Prep:

The 2007 Upton Award
If you have a school or system in mind that may meet the criteria for receiving the Upton Award (even if it is your own school!) please contact David Hyerle at Thinking Foundation.

Dr. Albert Upton Award
Dr. Albert Upton developed the theoretical foundation for Thinking Maps during his tenure at Whittier College in California.  His book, Design for Thinking (1960, Pacific Books), offered a vision for transforming teaching and learning for every student through an explicit focus on thinking processes and language development.
NY Times article on Dr. Albert Upton (pdf file)

Every year Thinking Foundation gives the Upton Award to a school or school system that:

  1. Does groundbreaking, foundational work on the facilitation of thinking through Thinking Maps;
  2. Documents and formally shares their work with the field so that educators may learn from their experience; and
  3. Through doing so, supports those who are in the greatest need in the educational process.

For further information contact David Hyerle Ed.D. at grantinquiries@thinkingfoundation.org.