MHEC to Provide Grants to Improve Teacher Quality

June 2009 Press Release

For immediate release: June 24, 2009 Media Contact: Christopher Falkenhagen

Communications: (410) 260-4511

MHEC to Provide Teacher Grants to Improve Teacher Quality

Grants are part of federal No Child Left Behind funding

ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 24, 2009) - The Maryland Higher Education Commission is accepting proposals from institutions of higher education interested in providing teacher training as part of the federal government’s “No Child Left Behind” initiative. The purpose of the grants is to provide professional development to teachers, principals, assistant principals and highly qualified para-educators in core academic subject areas: English, reading or language arts, mathematics, sciences, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography.

Approximately $1 million in total will be awarded with a maximum grant of $200,000. Grants will be awarded to partnerships that include at least one public or private institution of higher education and its division that prepares teachers and principals, a four-year higher education school of arts and sciences, and a “high-need” local education agency (LEA). High need is defined as a school system with a high number of students living in poverty and a high percentage of teachers who are either teaching outside the areas in which they were trained or who lack full certification. The partnership may also include additional LEAs, nonprofit cultural organizations, an educational service agency, a teacher or principal organization, businesses, and certain other entities.

The grants will be awarded on a competitive basis and must be used to improve academic content knowledge and instructional leadership of teachers, highly qualified para-educators and principals with the goals of 1) improving teaching quality, 2) increasing the number of highly qualified teachers and 3) improving student academic achievement in Maryland.

Technical assistance meetings are scheduled for July 22, 2009 and August 5, 2009 (both meetings cover the same topics) at the Gateway Business and Technology Training Center, Room 3, in Columbia, Maryland (6751 Columbia Gateway Drive). Proposals are due on September 23, 2009 and grant awards will be made in October. The RFA is available online at http://www.mhec.state.md.us/Grants/ITQ/ITQ.asp. For more information about the grant, contact Melinda Vann at 410-260-4578.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a 12-member coordinating board responsible for establishing statewide policies for Maryland public and independent colleges and universities and private career schools. It serves as an advocate for more than 337,000 college students in Maryland, for the State and its needs, and for business and industry in Maryland.

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