Framingham State Receives $1.68M Grant to Train ELL Teachers
The University applied for the 5-year federal grant through the National Professional Development Program, in partnership with Wachusett Regional School District, Cambridge Public Schools and Marlborough Public Schools.
Framingham State University has been awarded a $1.68 million grant from the
U.S. Department of Education that will solidify the University’s position as a statewide leader in developing master’s level teachers, who are highly qualified to support ELL (English Language Learners) populations.
The University applied for the 5-year grant through the National Professional
Development Program, in partnership with Wachusett Regional School District, Cambridge Public Schools and Marlborough Public Schools.
The grant money will be used to pay tuition for 40 teachers to earn their master’s degrees in Teaching English as a Second Language at Framingham State University.
The money will also be used to provide professional development to a minimum of 300 teachers from the partner school districts. Framingham State will work with these school districts to establish a cross-district collaborative Advisory Council as well as a data collection method to allow the University to track the progress of the program participants for up to three years after the program is completed.
The grant was submitted by Dr. Marguerite Mahler, coordinator and advisor to
Framingham State’s master’s degree program in Teaching English as a Second
Language, in collaboration with Kelley Gangi, curriculum supervisor at
Wachusett Regional School District.
“This grant should expand DGCE (Division of Graduate and Continuing Education) enrollment by establishing the University as the statewide leader in developing teachers who are highly qualified in supporting the English Language Learner population,” Dr. Mahler said.
She said it’s critical for the state to improve instruction for ELL students in order to close the achievement gap and increase graduation rates among that group.
Nearly 10 percent of all students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade have limited proficiency in English, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Education. The work to improve qualifications of ELL certified teachers has been slow, as professional development is not always accessible to teachers in all school districts.
“This grant comes at a critical time for the state,” Mahler said. “It should go a long way toward improving instruction for this growing segment of students.”
Jim Rizoli
3:19 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The handwriting is on the wall......
This is where the new teaching jobs are going to be....dual language.
And why?.......Towns are being inundated with illegals and they have more children than the locals. The "FREE" kindergarten will be a catalyst for more kids coming into the school system.
You think things are bad now...LoL...hold on to your hats. And all you one language teachers....you better learn another language or you're not going to be teaching much longer.
The one language only teacher will be extinct like the dodo bird.
This will in turn be a increase all the other expenses we as a town have and honestly....it's doesn't look good.
More schools, more teachers....more spending....Nice! I know there is an easy button but where is the STOP button?
Jim@ccfiile.com
Donald Wendt
5:04 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
I am so happy to belong to a community and a country that has the morals to do everything possible to teach our youth regaurdless of their back ground. In the past the non-english speakers were left behind in the system and ended up dropping out of school. When kids drop out of school and can't find employment that can pay the bills they become a bigger burden to the community.
Jim Rizoli
5:17 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Donald.....Don't worry......Teaching these kids English is going empty out the bank.
Lets see if they use their language skills helping us old timers latter.
Considering that the country is hedging toward bankruptcy I doubt we are going to be a priority.
Jim@ccfiile.com
Donald Wendt
7:50 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
I work in geriatric care and yes how we pay for you "old timers" (your words) is an issue, but leaving children behind is not the answer. The under educated and unemployable always cost more in the long run.
Carol
9:53 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
The Framingham School Comm (SC) and Superintendent have made it clear that money is needed to educate every Teacher in Framingham on skills that help them to take in Students that were previously LEP (Limited English Proficiency) into Standard classrooms. This is a mandate and must be done....like so many others, but nonetheless, the point is Framingham is one of the communities that is heavily impacted and should be providing Professional Development for ALL teachers so that we can more effectively transition children from LEP (bilingual, or ESL) to Standard English classrooms. However, as a Framingham resident it is incredibly disappointing that The Town of Framingham is not part of the funding being provided to Fram. State U! Why is the Wachusett Regional School District partnering with FSU, instead of, or in addition to the Town of Framingham? We are the Home Team. Home Turf. There is something odd about this. Am I the only one thinking this is odd?
Susan Petroni
10:48 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
@KIm - Carol wasn't asking Framinghan to spend more money she wanted to know why school districts like Cambridge, Marlboro and Wachusett are part of a federal grant to train teachers with Framingham State and not the Framingham Public Schools, which has a high ELL population...
Kim Poness
10:51 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Right - I shot from the hip inappropriately. I subsequently (and quickly!) apologized - oops! Is my second post off the mark as well? Am I just too tired to be posting right now?
Kim Poness
10:52 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Actually just deleted both posts. I'll re-read this whole thing when I've had some sleep. Sorry about that!
Susan Petroni
10:57 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
No problem - I always appreciate you straight from the hip attitude! Get some sleep!
Diane Tiger
2:28 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
@ Susan - do you have any information as to why Framingham is not part of this program? What a miss!!!
Diane Tiger
2:29 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Just to clarify - a miss with the program - not the article!
Kim Poness
3:31 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Okay, now that I've had some sleep and found my previously created comparison spreadsheets, I understand the controversy. Looking at the makeup of the three districts, we definitely have a higher percentage of students whose first language is not English, and those who are classified as "Limited English". Including Marlborough certainly makes sense, as their student population is incredibly close to ours, but the other two don't really make sense to me! I wonder how the decisions were made? Who is responsible for making sure we are applying for grants and funding that would benefit our schools? Yes, confusing!
Jim Rizoli
11:55 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Here is the problem.....the young kids coming into our school system don't even have a grasp of their own language, they are pretty much illiterate.
So they have to be taught their own language first, then be taught English over time.
This is a huge problem! This is true dumbing down of Framingham, when situations like this exist.....it pulls down the rest of the school system.
Pretty soon they will be lowering the MCAS scores because the kids aren't even making the grade for what the test scores should be for them now.
Framingham is turning into a true third world mentality.
Sadly the various policies of the town are encouraging this.
So the system is horribly broken, now lets get the money (not ours) from the Govt. to help us. If you're going to heap this problem upon us give us the money to deal with it.
It's not fair we have to be the main town that is being targeted by non English families and their children, please gives us the funds to deal with it.
jim@ccfiile.com
Carol
2:14 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
@Jim Rizoli. Glad you agree we need the funding.
Jim Rizoli
3:38 pm on Thursday, June 7, 2012
Carol....Since the town has conceded to allow the problem to continue, I guess we have to see who we can suck the money out of.
We can play the game too....
Jim@ccfiile.com