Bilingual - Multicultural Education

REALL grant

The United States Department of Education (USDE) has awarded Dr. Eliana D. Rojas of the University of Connecticut, Neag School of Education, discretionary priority 3 funding ($1.5 million) to prepare teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) to accelerate their students’ academic achievement. The purpose of the National Professional Development Program is to provide professional activities that will improve classroom instruction for limited English proficient (LEP) children and assist educational personnel working with such children to meet high professional standards. The project proposed will recruit in-service teachers, offering a plan of study leading to M.A. degrees and/or sixth year certificates with cross-endorsement in TESOL and/or Bilingual Education – focusing on 6th –12th grade mathematics teachers. Twelve (12) teachers will be recruited in years one and three and six in year four for a total of 30 M.A./ sixth year graduates by the close of the project. Twenty-eight (28) teachers, support professionals (counselors) and administrators will be recruited to complete graduate work as non-degree seeking participants or for completion of certification or endorsement requirements with emphasis on models for teaching mathematics to ELLs.

As a second goal, and with the purpose of fortifying the participants mathematic curricular experience, the project plans to strengthen and implement an Intermediate Algebra and Pre-Calculus course  in Spanish that has already been piloted and is directly linked to ELLs’ needs. Faculty involved with the project will also develop workshops in cross-cultural communication for building culturally responsive learning environments. The third goal is to develop teacher knowledge in the use of technology for directing students towards independent learning and in how to assess the validity of web-based information.  Especially design Seminars will be extended to the IHE faculty.

This project is designed to focus on the needs of English Language Learners to bring them the same opportunities for academic achievement and English abilities as their peers. School districts make provisions for disabled students within buildings; this project will ensure that teachers having special needs’ students will also be accommodated as they train to better serve all students. The parent component of this project is planned to reach out to adults (parents/guardians) who are not English speakers. Materials will be prepared for use by teachers in Spanish and English. Parent support sessions will be presented by fluent Spanish speakers. This project includes strong collaboration between the Neag School of Education and the Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute.

The project will begin in September 2007 and will be directed by Dr. Eliana D. Rojas.

Requirements for consideration:

• Accepted to MA or 6th year program in Dept of Curriculm and Instruction
• Spanish-English bilingual desirable
• Resident of CT
• Secondary Mathematics teacher

Title III - TEACEP Project

In September of 2002, the University of Connecticut received $1.2 million in funding to support the Teaching Excellence for All Connecticut Educational Personnel (TEACEP) project. The first goal of the TEACEP project is to improve the education of English language learners in Connecticut by strengthening, expanding, and developing the Master's of Arts Bilingual and TESOL teacher education programs at the University of Connecticut. The second goal is to improve the competencies of in-service and pre-service teachers who will be able to adequately address the educational needs of ELL and mainstream bilingual students.

Accordingly, the Neag School of Education has developed master's degree programs in bilingual education or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). In addition, an ad-hoc committee has been formed to plan and design an initial undergraduate/graduate certification program in TESOL education. Dr. Eliana Rojas is the principal investigator of the Title III grant and also serves as director of the TEACEP project.

Participating Consortia Districts

• East Hartford
• Hartford
• Meriden
• New London
• Norwich
• Windham

The TEACEP grant is no longer accepting applications for fellowships.