BGS Program - Homepage

Welcome to the BGS Program at UMass

The University of Massachusetts-Amherst, through the Division of Continuing Education, is sponsoring a Bachelor of General Studies program in Holyoke. The program provides students with an interdisciplinary major that explores the social, economic, political, environmental, educational and cultural conditions shaping the experiences of families living in linguistically and culturally diverse communities. It is designed for bilingual paraprofessionals and school staff who currently live and/or work in a linguistically and culturally diverse community, and who are interested in pursuing an ESL or elementary licensure after completing their degree. Inquiry-based courses will be taught by UMASS faculty and doctoral students from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, and the School of Education. The main objective of the program is to enable bilingual paraprofessionals and school staff to obtain their bachelor's degree and ensure that they have the prerequisites for pursuing licensure in ESL or elementary education. The aim of the program, funded through a Title VII Career Ladder Grant, is to increase the number of teachers who understand and draw on the language and culture of the children they serve, work effectively with English language learners, and enable children to develop strong academic skills.

Goals that Guide the BGS Program
The main objectives of the program are:

To provide an academically rigorous undergraduate program to prepare a cohort of 20-25 bilingual paraprofessionals for obtaining a BGS degree concentrating on disciplinary inquiries that enable them to effectively teach English language learners at the elementary school level
To increase the number of highly qualified educators prepared by Umass by removing several known barriers to professional licensure.
To increase the number and articulation of the outreach efforts of various Colleges into underserved local communities in ways that build local capacity to solve social, cultural, economic and political challenges, specifically through disciplinary inquires that are sensitive to the needs and culture of the underserved populations.
To help paraprofessionals successfully further their educational and professional aspiration through successful higher education and help them build networks of university support that they can draw on for their own students' future advancement.