$5 million in grants make master's degrees possible for 90 teachers of diverse learners
Ninety ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ educators will earn free or sharply discounted master’s degrees and specialized state endorsements through ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Boulder thanks to two $2.5 million grants. The support, comprising two unique-in-the-nation programs, is designed to better prepare teachers to work with students from diverse backgrounds, including those with disabilities.
The programs, both funded by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Language Acquisition and offered by the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Boulder’s School of Education, launched in January in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥, and in Eagle County Schools on the Western Slope of the state. For both programs, ÃÛÌÇÖ±²¥ Boulder delivers the coursework through a hybrid online and on-site format. Some students pay a small fee of $100 per class to cover instructor travel expenses.
The programs come at a time when demand is high for teachers prepared to work with English learners and students with disabilities. The number of English learners has doubled over the past decade in the Poudre district. In Eagle County schools nearly 35 percent of its 7,000 students are English learners. And nationwide, only 30 percent of teachers of English learners are adequately prepared to work with them, research has shown.
"Teachers are eager to increase their knowledge about how to better serve all the students in their classrooms, yet they often cannot afford to pay for master's degrees," said the BUENO Center's Tammy Molinar-LeBlanc, director for the Poudre Masters/Endorsement Program. "Programs like this make it possible."
