October 11, 1999
CONTACT: Judy Mitchell, 509/335-4853
Ed Crowe, 202/260-8460
WSU AWARDED GRANT FOR STATEWIDE TEACHER PREPARATION REFORM
PULLMAN, Wash.--Schoolchildren across Washington, especially "high needs" students who are at the greatest risk of failure, will benefit from a 5-year, $9.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant, to the Washington State University College of Education, is one of 25 offered nationally and the only one awarded in Washington, California, or Oregon.
According to WSU Dean of Education Judy Mitchell, WSU students in teacher preparation will be spending much more time in "high needs" schools at districts from Tacoma to Colville because of the focus and resources of the grant.
The grant will strengthen on-going partnerships with Grays Harbor College at Aberdeen and the Northwest Indian College near Bellingham, as well as collaboration with the WSU colleges that provide content knowledge to future teachers. Innovative uses of high-tech communication systems will glue the statewide elements of the project together.
In addition, the programs developed at WSU will become a model, disseminated to educators across Washington and the nation through summer forums, technical assistance and on-going electronic communication.
Mitchell explained that the basic goal of the grant-funded program is to help the education college and its partner schools prepare teachers who are better able to teach students with diverse backgrounds and needs, and then to share their discoveries with educators in the region and the nation.
We now have the resources to make the systemic changes in our program to fully align with Washington's education reform model," Mitchell said. "Equally exciting is this opportunity to deepen our involvement in partnerships with school districts and community colleges to help create a truly seamless K-20 system statewide."
The federal grant, known as CO-TEACH (Collaboration for Teacher Education Accountable to Children with High needs), was assembled, and will be coordinated, by 5 education faculty members at the Pullman campus. They include Assistant Professors Tariq Akmal and Dawn Shinew; Professors Merrill Oaks and Jerry Maring; and Associate Professors Ed Helmstetter and Michael Pavel.
Over the five years of the grant, the $9.6 million in federal funds will be matched with $3.9 million from the partnering schools and colleges.
According to Ed Crowe, program director with the U.S. Department of Education, WSU was chosen from among 220 applicants nationwide. Grant recipients were selected on the basis of three criteria: the significance of the proposal, the impact upon teacher education in that region, and the likelihood that the program would be completed successfully.
"This grant program is the first investment of federal dollars in teacher education in 30 years," Crowe added. "This is a very tangible symbol of a growing national concern about the quality of education."
Other WSU education faculty members recently received an additional $5.1 million in grant funding for programs in educational reform. WSU Tri-Cities was awarded a 5-year $3.2 million federal grant to encourage more students to prepare for higher education. WSU Vancouver received four separate grants totaling $1.9 million for enhancing science education, increasing the number of bilingual educators, and other purposes.
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