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ERC Receives $500,000 Grant

9/29/09

The State of Texas Education Research Center at Texas A&M (ERC) was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to establish the Texas A&M Educator Preparation Collaborative for Enhancing College and Career Readiness in Texas Schools (A&M Collaborative).

Hersh Waxman, ERC director; Jackie Stillisano, ERC associate director; Larry Kelly, director of the Secondary Graduate Certification Program in the College of Education and Human Development; and Dennie Smith, head of the Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture, will be principal investigators on the project. A number of faculty from the college and the College of Science will participate in the project.

The A&M Collaborative Network will include Blinn College, Bryan ISD and Cypress-Fairbanks ISD.

The purpose of the collaborative is to develop and pilot a research-based model designed to prepare P-16 education professionals to assist students in meeting college and career readiness standards and skilled workforce expectations.

The project is based on a conceptual model for the establishment of networks of cooperating P-16 education organizations that will support enhanced teacher preparation programs at institutions of higher education and encourage collaborative research on educator preparation.

An important component of the project is the development of a self-assessment tool for all teacher education institutions in Texas to evaluate the quality, effectiveness and alignment to CCR Standards of their educator preparation programs.

"The integration of the College and Career Readiness Standards into future teacher preparation programs necessitates the establishment of a pilot network of partners to provide a strong linkage between K-12 education and post-secondary levels," said Waxman. "The A&M Collaborative will create a research-based model for the preparation of teacher educators and professional development of classroom teachers. The ERC data warehouse will be an important resource in tracking the academic and college success of high school students served in the project."

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