ASC Teacher Education receives million dollar grant (08-17-07)
The Adams State College Department of Teacher Education has received another grant. The Title III National Professional Development grant from the US Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition totals 1.25 million dollars over five years.
"We have dubbed the grant Project EXCELL, educational excellence for English language learners," Dr. Joel Judd, director of the project, said.
The activities included in the grant are pre-service and in-service teacher training, and the formation of a Southern Colorado Education Consortium (SCEC). Judd is the overall project director and principal investigator and Dr. Sheryl Ludwig is the director of SCEC.
According to Judd the grant funds will financially assist teachers obtaining the English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement to their license and support graduate and undergraduate cohorts in ESL.
"Our priority to train more secondary teachers," Judd said. "We need middle and high school teachers with skills in ESL."
The Alamosa School District will be working with Adams State College in supporting the grant initiatives, as will Durango, Cortez, Pueblo 70, and Roaring Fork School Districts.
"We want to recruit prospective Master's Plus students who want to pursue an ESL emphasis," Judd said. Adams State College Master's Plus degree is designed for individuals that aspire to become licensed secondary content area teachers. Candidates must hold an undergraduate degree and have a major in one of the following content areas: English, math, science, social studies, business, or Spanish.
"We want to link district needs for master's plus candidates to our program," Judd said.
The formation of SCEC will provide an impetus for bringing together entities such as school districts in southern Colorado, Boards of Cooperative Education Services, and Adams State, to work together directly or indirectly.
"The consortium will focus on several activities that help teachers help students, including Internet resources," Judd said.
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By Linda Relyea
