Spring Break
U. awarded grant to support trasitioning teachers
By: Nancy Lan
Issue date: 7/13/07 Section: News
Originally published: 7/13/07 at 12:28 AM EST
Last update: 7/13/07 at 12:27 AM EST
Originally published: 7/13/07 at 12:28 AM EST
Last update: 7/13/07 at 12:27 AM EST
The U.S. Department of Education awarded the University a federal grant for approximately $3.5 million over five years to recruit and prepare 210 individuals to become teachers in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Alabama.
The grant is supported by the national Transition to Teaching (TTT) program, which recruits and trains non-traditional candidates. "We're not trying to find teachers to fill teaching positions," explained David Schwartz, a TTT recruiter. Instead, the program aims to take people from different working environments looking for a career change and train them to become teachers.
This is the third grant that the University has received from TTT; during the University's previous two grants, they certified over 300 people to become teachers.
According to Fredricka Reisman, professor and the Principal Investigator for the project, most of the grant money will go towards paying full tuition for all candidates, instructor salaries and enrichment courses, such as teaching candidates how to use new technological equipment.
"We're very pleased that the U.S. Department of Education is providing the resources for us to bring teachers with wonderful experience into the classroom," she said.
Candidates will be trained through the Goodwin College of Professional Studies' TTT graduate online certification program, in collaboration with the College of Education; potential teachers will attend a summer session and begin teaching that fall. Online courses will allow teachers to begin their careers in Charleston, S.C. and Mobile, Ala. schools while still completing their credits, "like a Pennsylvania intern teaching certificate," said Larry Keiser, the College of Education Director of Records and Finance.
In Pennsylvania, teachers will be fully certified within one and a half years, and in South Carolina and Alabama it will take about four years.
Since the College of Education's main focus of high-school certification lies in math and science, TTT will focus on recruiting people from these working backgrounds, said Schwartz. He emphasized the importance of recruiting people who will be able to not only teach math or science, but to apply their past working experience in the classroom as well. A person coming from a "real-world" job will be "a teacher who can answer the question 'why will I need to use this after I graduate?'" said Schwartz.
The grant is supported by the national Transition to Teaching (TTT) program, which recruits and trains non-traditional candidates. "We're not trying to find teachers to fill teaching positions," explained David Schwartz, a TTT recruiter. Instead, the program aims to take people from different working environments looking for a career change and train them to become teachers.
This is the third grant that the University has received from TTT; during the University's previous two grants, they certified over 300 people to become teachers.
According to Fredricka Reisman, professor and the Principal Investigator for the project, most of the grant money will go towards paying full tuition for all candidates, instructor salaries and enrichment courses, such as teaching candidates how to use new technological equipment.
"We're very pleased that the U.S. Department of Education is providing the resources for us to bring teachers with wonderful experience into the classroom," she said.
Candidates will be trained through the Goodwin College of Professional Studies' TTT graduate online certification program, in collaboration with the College of Education; potential teachers will attend a summer session and begin teaching that fall. Online courses will allow teachers to begin their careers in Charleston, S.C. and Mobile, Ala. schools while still completing their credits, "like a Pennsylvania intern teaching certificate," said Larry Keiser, the College of Education Director of Records and Finance.
In Pennsylvania, teachers will be fully certified within one and a half years, and in South Carolina and Alabama it will take about four years.
Since the College of Education's main focus of high-school certification lies in math and science, TTT will focus on recruiting people from these working backgrounds, said Schwartz. He emphasized the importance of recruiting people who will be able to not only teach math or science, but to apply their past working experience in the classroom as well. A person coming from a "real-world" job will be "a teacher who can answer the question 'why will I need to use this after I graduate?'" said Schwartz.
