• Introduction
• NAF Collaboration Network
• National Student/Parent Mock Election
• Pennies for Peace Service Learning Program
• Learning Teams Fellowship
• Pearson Foundation/CCSSO International Conference on Education
• Bridgeit
• National Alliance of Black School Educators
• Empowering the 21st Century Superintendent
• Learning to Change, Changing to Learn
• Familia: Action, Support, and Leadership
• Jordan Education Initiative
• Project Exploration Science Teacher Institute

Pennies for Peace Service Learning Program

Greg Mortenson’s best-selling book Three Cups of Tea and his Pennies for Peace service learning program have inspired thousands of young people across the U.S. to raise money for new schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Recognizing the importance of this program and of service learning in U.S. education, the Pearson Foundation has published a standards-aligned service learning curriculum to support the introduction of Pennies for Peace in K-12 classrooms, with the support of the National Education Association (NEA) Foundation.

The Pennies for Peace Toolkit provides service learning curriculum for all grade levels, including classroom activities, fact sheets, maps provided by National Geographic, and videos about life and culture in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Toolkit supplies campaign tools that teachers and students can use to engage their local communities, including templates for letters to civic leaders, press release templates, stickers, and flyers.

Three Cups of Tea tells the story of Mortenson’s 1993 attempt to climb K2 in honor of his younger sister. When a member of the expedition got sick, the group turned around, and in the process Mortenson got lost in the mountains of Pakistan. He wandered into a poor village, where the chief and his people cared for the exhausted stranger. Inspired by their kindness, Mortenson promised to return and build a school. Central Asia Institute, the parent organization of Pennies for Peace that was co-founded by Mortenson, has used contributions from students in the United States and abroad to establish nearly one hundred schools in rural and often volatile areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan – schools that provide education to more than 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before.

“Education coupled with compassion can move mountains,” says Mortenson. “We want our students to understand the issues facing the world, to know that they have the capacity to effect change; and we want them to guide their leaders to share one penny per dollar globally, because the greatest legacy we can give our students is a legacy of peace.”