To inspire students to excel in science, technology, engineering and math, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has selected Grand Valley State University and Grand Rapids Public Schools to be part of a new statewide teaching fellowship program.
In a special White House event last week celebrating the expansion of his Educate to Innovate Campaign, President Barack Obama announced the first participants of the Foundation's new $16.7 million Woodrow Wilson Michigan Teaching Fellowship.
Six Michigan universities and five state urban school districts were chosen to be partners in the creation and implementation of a special master's degree program aimed at better preparing a workforce for the future, particularly among students in urban districts.
Each university will be able to select and provide 20 promising future teachers with a $30,000 stipend for an exemplary, intensive master's degree program in education in exchange for three years of teaching service in hard-to-staff middle and high schools. The Foundation is hoping the first round of fellows will be selected for a program starting in 2011. The universities will select another round of 20 fellows for the second graduating class, bringing the total number of fellow graduates statewide to 240.
According to Foundation officials, the universities have agreed to each match a $500,000 enrichment grant from the Foundation to help defray expenses associated with new faculty, consultants, equipment or other changes that will be necessary to develop and implement program. In addition, the universities will each receive $6,000 per Fellow which will be used to provide the new teachers with mentoring during their first three years in the classroom.
"I'm very excited about this fabulous opportunity for both our students and faculty," says Elaine Collins, dean of the College of Education at Grand Valley State University. "The Michigan Department of Education has identified these areas as needs and/or interests so we're interested in meeting the state's needs for teachers in these areas."
While details of the program still need to be developed, Collins is confident the curriculum "will have an intensive clinical component" which will require future teachers to spend considerable time on-site in the classrooms of urban schools.
The five other universities selected to participate in the Fellowship program are the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University and Wayne State University.
The four remaining urban school districts chosen to participate are the Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, Detroit and Kalamazoo Public Schools.
Sources: W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Grand Valley State University; Elaine Collins, dean of Grand Valley State University's College of Education
Sharon Hanks is editor of innovation and jobs news at Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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