COLUMBUS, Miss. -- Mississippi University for Women’s Department of Education was recently awarded a $90,000 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) grant to conduct a summer institute for 20 local area middle school teachers. The institute is titled “C5: Creating Collaboration in the Common Core Classroom.”
Participants will interact with experts in the areas of English, math, science, social studies and instructional technology. The goal of the institute is to provide support for teachers to develop exciting interdisciplinary, technology based, instructional strategies to enhance learning in the middle grades. MUW has partnered with three area school districts as a part of this grant. Teams of teachers from Columbus Municipal School District, Lowndes County School District and West Point School District will be recommended by their administration for an opportunity to participate.
Drs. April Coleman and Richard Holden, MUW faculty members in the education department, will serve as co-directors for the grant as well as technology and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) instructors during the institute. They collaborated with other faculty and administrators on the MUW campus, in addition to administrators from the three school districts, to submit the grant proposal.
Coleman said a major goal of the Common Core Standards is to produce students who are critical and creative thinkers and productive citizens in our global society.
“The authentic, integrated, technology-infused instruction designed by teachers during this summer institute and later implemented in their classrooms will serve to equip students with 21st century skills and ultimately empower them to make a positive difference in our local schools and communities,” she said.
Holden added, “The overall goal of the institute is to assist middle school teachers in the development of interdisciplinary lesson plans and instructional strategies which integrate technology, focus on higher-order conceptual thinking and implement the new Common Core State Standards. I expect next year's students of these teachers to be more engaged in their learning and more likely to achieve high scores on the new CCSS assessments.”
In January of 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB Act), became law. Title II, Part A of this legislations authorized Federal Awards to State Agencies for Higher Education (SAHEs) for an Improving Teacher Quality competitive grant program.
The State Agencies for Higher Education administer a portion of Title II, Part A funds to make competitive sub grants to eligible partnerships. The partnerships use the funds to conduct professional development activities in core academic subjects in order to ensure that highly qualified teachers, paraprofessionals, and, if appropriate, principals have subject matter knowledge in the academic subjects they teach or in computer-related technology to enhance instruction.
Authority for the administration of the Improving Teacher Quality Grant Program resides with each state. In Mississippi, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) is the agency authorized to receive and to distribute federal funds appropriated for programs to be utilized by higher education.
Dr. Coleman can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Dr. Holden can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for additional information. Interested individuals may also contact the education department at (662) 329-7191.