The Mary Lou Fulton Teacher's College, located on Tempe's campus, offers a full range of classes for those who seek to become educators in both secondary and elementary schools. (Photo by Dominic Valente)The Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at ASU has been awarded four federal grants totaling $17 million to support new education initiatives for students across Arizona, including expanded ELL programs and increasing access to higher education.
One of the grants promotes new educational approaches and teaching methods for low-income students. The research will be led by Jeanne Wilcox, principal investigator for the project and associate dean of research and professor at the Teachers College.
Out of 500 applicants, ASU received the largest grant of $4 million to conduct this research, Wilcox said.
“The purpose of the competition was to provide funds for colleges and universities to pursue innovations to improve college access and success, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds and underrepresented minority groups,” Wilcox said.
As part of this grant, a new curriculum is being designed that breaks free from traditional grading methods based on mastery and is replaced with more project-based evaluations, Wilcox said.
“The idea is that when learning is focused around a project that is meaningful to students, multiple learning outcomes can be achieved,” Wilcox said.
Included in the grant, effective fall 2015, 1,600 entering freshman will have their progress tracked in these courses, but the new curriculum will be open to any entering freshman.
Also included in the grant, ASU will partner with the Phoenix Union High School District to work with high school seniors planning on attending ASU to create an early start program.
In the program, high school seniors can receive credits toward degree requirement during their senior year. This project is intended to boost student accessibility and success in post-secondary education by providing continual support through the transition to college, Wilcox said.
Another grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, is a five-year $11.5 million grant that supports English Language Learner teachers in Arizona.
Pamela Harris, assistant division director for teacher preparation at the college is the lead author of the grant, ASU spokeswoman Lisa Lucas said.
The state’s 30 percent Hispanic population contributes to an increasing need of ELL teachers and learning innovations.
This grant will expand the approximate 30 Teachers College graduates annually certified to teach ELLs, to now equipping all undergraduate majors in elementary education on how to teach ELLs courses.
This project is expected to pioneer a national model for ELL education, according to a University press release.
A third grant provides more than $1 million to support American Indian teachers in eastern Arizona.
Fifteen American Indian students will transition into ASU's undergraduate degree program and complete junior and senior-year requirements in San Carlos, Arizona to serve schools in the San Carlos Apache Nation.
The fourth grant is for $550,000 and involves a full assessment of the iTeachAZ program, which includes the required teacher’s college preparation and senior-year residency requirements.
This grant allows research to examine significant areas of iTeachAZ initiatives including the effectiveness on college graduation rates, teacher preparedness and the impact of iTeachAZ-trained teachers on their students, according to the press release.
Criminal justice sophomore Kenneth Dills said ASU is a great place to conduct this research because of its large-scale diversity of education.
“ASU is so large, students come from all over the nation and world to come here,” Dills said.
Diversity leads to education innovations, he said.
ASU is a great place to conduct this kind of research because of its large size and ability to test new programs with a student sample size that is easily scalable, Wilcox said.
“ASU is an innovative institution committed to access and success," she said.
Reach the reporter at rtdavis1@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @ryantaylordavis
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