Dr. Carolyn Williams, College of Education, received a grant in the amount of $115,586 for UCA/NLRSD P-16 Education Partnership-Improving Teacher and Principal Quality: No Child Left Behind Collaborative: Part II.According to Williams, the planned outcomes include increasing teachers? knowledge, skills and abilities in reading and writing literacy, science, mathematics and computer information technology at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Another planned outcome is the increase of student proficiency scores on the Arkansas Benchmark Assessment in literacy and mathematics. In addition, the project should develop vertical and horizontal alignments of the science curriculum at the elementary, secondary and high school levels comparable with the Arkansas Benchmark Assessment and national standardized tests, and integrate the five propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Certification with classroom pedagogy.
?Ultimately, this project will result in improved teaching and learning,? Williams said.
This grant funds a three-hour graduate credit course at the University of Central Arkansas. It will support tuition and fees for 135 teachers in the North Little Rock School District. The school district will provide matching tuition funds for teachers. Teachers will have an opportunity to become full-time graduate students at UCA, thus increasing the number of teachers will have an opportunity for teachers to actively participate in hands-on instructional demonstrations.
Participants also will receive mentoring and coaching in the elementary, middle, and secondary classrooms. The professors will work collaboratively with administrators and teachers in the school district to solve problems associated with teaching and learning subjects critical to improving student achievement in the State of Arkansas and beyond.
