College of Education, UWW partners with area schools on $2.2 million teacher preparation grant
The partnership will prepare and license 35 paraprofessionals to enter the early childhood education field.
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Faculty in the UMass Amherst College of Education have received a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to prepare and license paraprofessionals. This partnership includes the UMass early childhood faculty and Educator Preparation office, University Without Walls (UWW) Interdisciplinary Studies program, Holyoke Public Schools (HPS), and Springfield Public Schools (SPS).
The Para-to-Teacher (PtT) Pathway Program for Early Childhood Education (ECE) Licensure in Massachusetts (Pre K-2) will establish a tested, accessible, and sustainable model for paraprofessional educators to become highly-qualified ECE teachers. Members of the project team will also outline how to scale the program across Massachusetts.
A key feature of the program is to recruit and prepare educators of color in order to diversify the teacher workforce in the Commonwealth, while simultaneously providing professional development for the teachers that will mentor these future educators along their journey.
“It is widely known that the current teacher workforce doesn’t match the diversity of the student population,” said Ysaaca Axelrod, an associate professor of children, families, and schools in the College of Education. “Our goal is to learn alongside the paraprofessionals working in Holyoke and Springfield, learn from their wisdom and experiences, and build on that in our classrooms as we support them in the process of gaining their teaching credential.”
“We are hopeful that this federal grant provides an opportunity to respond to the teacher shortage our school districts are facing,” said Beverley Bell, senior lecturer of teacher education and school improvement, and the principal investigator of the grant. “Our school district partners have repeatedly expressed the need for a pathway for paraprofessionals who do not have a bachelor's degree to enter the teaching profession.”
The PtT Pathway Program will train paraprofessionals in early grade literacy practices, inclusive and anti-racist teaching pedagogy, applied research, and classroom assessment. Participants will complete their course work through a combination of online and hybrid classes. During their final year, paraprofessionals will be released from their district responsibilities to participate in an immersive teaching experience before qualifying to earn their initial teaching license and subsequently being employed within their school districts. This grant also provides resources for new paraprofessionals in training to be onboarded by districts as part of a model that is sustainable.
“For several years now, Springfield Public Schools has been engaged in the important work of diversification of our educator pool,” said Daniel Warwick, superintendent of SPS. “Our paraprofessionals, one of our most diverse employee groups, are dedicated and caring educators with the potential to become highly qualified teachers and that is why we are beyond excited for this partnership with the University of Massachusetts.”
“The Para-to-Teacher Program is a win-win-win for the paraprofessionals, students, and families of Holyoke Public Schools,” said Anthony Soto, superintendent of HPS.
In addition to providing paraprofessionals with an opportunity to advance their careers, as well as enabling HPS to retain talented staff, said Soto, the program benefits the approximately 4,000 Latino/Latina students attending school in Holyoke, who will encounter more teachers of color in their classrooms.
In Year 1 of the grant, College of Education faculty SeonYeong Yu, associate professor, Ysaaca Axelrod, associate professor, and J. Camille Cammack, senior lecturer II, will reshape the highly successful existing Early Childhood Education undergraduate program. Yu, Axelrod, and Cammack all serve as co-principal investigators of the grant. This work will take place collaboratively with Michel Boucher of UWW. Modifications to the program will include increased hybrid (mostly remote) learning opportunities for participants. SPS and HPS will recruit and select the first 20 professionals of color to begin their coursework in Year 2 of the grant. In Year 3, a cohort of 15 additional paraprofessionals will be recruited. In Year 4 and 5, those who are bilingual will be able to complete their district based Bilingual Education Endorsement.
For more information, contact:
- UMass Amherst contact: Beverley Bell bjbell [at] umass [dot] edu (bjbell[at]umass[dot]edu)
- Springfield Public Schools Contact: Valerie Williams williamsv [at] springfieldpublicschools [dot] com (williamsv[at]springfieldpublicschools[dot]com)
- Holyoke Public Schools Contact: Christie Elman celman [at] hps [dot] holyoke [dot] ma [dot] us (celman[at]hps[dot]holyoke[dot]ma[dot]us)