|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
Grant to boost teaching in high-need schools
Inspired by the No Child Left Behind Act, the program designed by Mouza and Glass is intended to give faculty at “high-need” Delaware schools extra opportunities for professional growth. “Our goal is help faculty in three Delaware charter schools meet teaching excellence standards from a legislative point of view, while offering professional development programs and support,” Mouza said. There is a particular need for this assistance in charter schools not affiliated with public school districts, Mouza said, because such schools are not held to the same teacher-certification standards to which public schools are held. After being approached by the Delaware Office of Education last summer, Mouza and Glass applied for the grant with the idea of offering professional development to teachers through technology and professional sharing. Mouza and Glass began with needs-based assessments at the Thomas Edison Charter School and Kuumba Academy in Wilmington and the Academy of Dover. “Because collaboration is such an important aspect of professional development, part of the assessment process involved bringing administrators from all three schools together to visit with each other and share perspectives,” Mouza said. The outcome was productive, she said, and will lead to similar sharing opportunities for teachers, with the professional development initiative continuing through the rest of the school year and into the summer. “By offering opportunities for educators to learn best pedagogy practices, the grant partnership will benefit students, teachers and administrators,” Mouza said. At the end of the academic year, teachers in all three schools also will have the option of attending classes at UD for free during the summer months. By the completion of the grant partnership, Mouza said, it is expected that participating educators will demonstrate strong subject matter and pedagogical knowledge, use a variety of instructional strategies to promote learning across a range of student abilities and incorporate technology and community resources into the classroom. “Ultimately, our goal with this initiative is to help teachers improve their teaching strategies so that students can get the most from their time in the classroom,” Mouza said. Article by Becca Hutchinson |
|
|
