110 Georgia Educators To Participate in New Center for Latino Achievement Program
More than 110 teachers, administrators and staff from several Atlanta metro area and north Georgia schools will participate in a year-long professional development program offered by a new University of Georgia center that aims to improve Latino student achievement.
Educators from Atlanta City Schools, and Cherokee, Clarke, Cobb, DeKalb, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Habersham and Hall County school systems will participate in a series of activities, including a summer institute at Amicalola Falls, which is being offered through UGA’s Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE). The training, provided at no cost to the educators, will include follow-up site visits and workshops throughout the year.
UGA faculty, graduate students and outside experts will help educators learn how to resolve locally identified barriers to Latino student achievement. The center will also help participants create and implement specific school-based plans for enhancing Latino student success.
Participating teachers and staff voiced excitement about this new initiative.
“We think developing action plans will have a positive impact on improving education for our Latino/Hispanic students as well as provide the by-product of helping all students meet their potential,” said Maria Montalvo-Balbed, ESOL coordinator for Fulton County Schools.
“We are very excited about the prospects of having a school participate in such an important endeavor – specific, well-designed, purposeful efforts to identify and resolve local challenges for our Latino population can and will make a difference,” said Barbara Duke, Director of Clarke County School District’s Instruction Support Programs.
In addition, through two federal Title II Improving Teacher Quality grants, the center will help 16 Hall County elementary school teachers learn how to foster successful reading for English language learners and 12 Fulton County high school teachers learn how to teach challenging content-area coursework to English language learners more effectively.
“Georgia’s teachers realize the importance of learning how to work more effectively with the growing population of students who are learning English. The University of Georgia is pleased to take a proactive role in providing such vital professional development,” said Michael Padilla, associate dean for educator partnerships.
The center, funded by a $3.5 million grant from The Goizueta Foundation and based in UGA’s College of Education, is in its first year of work to improve education for Latino students statewide by:
- offering professional development to K-12 educators in schools with high Latino populations,
- creating The Goizueta Foundation Graduate Scholars Fund to support graduate students dedicated to Latino educational improvement. These assistantships allow the students to work with Georgia schools to better understand issues that affect educational success for Latinos,
- establishing The Goizueta Foundation Scholars Fund to provide need-based scholarships to UGA undergraduates who are fluent in Spanish and whose families live in the U.S., and
- endowing The Goizueta Foundation Chair for Latino Teacher Education in the College of Education in which an internationally known scholar will be recruited to provide intellectual leadership in addressing the educational needs of Latino youth.
Monday, April 28, 2003
WRITER: Michael Childs, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
CONTACT: Paul Matthews, 706/542-3368, pmatthew@uga.edu