Grant funds teacher education

By Ryan May
Daily Forty-Niner

Cal State Long Beach has been named as one of only 11 universities in the world to receive a $450,000 grant to further teacher education.

The K-16 Initiative Grant from Lucent Technologies Foundation provides funding for 20 graduate students per year to receive on-site instruction at Bret Harte Elementary School in Long Beach. The program will provide training for 60 graduate students over the course of the three-year program, according to a summary released through CSULB.

"The professional development school is significant because it will bring together members of a long-standing partnership to collaboratively address two of the most fundamental challenges for educators today," said Catherine DuCharme, project director and chairwoman of teacher education at CSULB.

Those two challenges are "preparing an adequate number of quality teachers for highly diverse urban schools and helping all students to achieve academically," DuCharme said in a statement earlier this month.

According to DuCharme, the project promotes professional development by providing opportunities for co-teaching, guest lecturing and in-service activities.

Working in cooperation with the Long Beach Unified School District, the project will encompass faculty from CSULB's Colleges of Education, Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences, according to the statement.

Additionally, graduate students will work toward the project's goal of improving academic standards from kindergarten through eighth grade and facilitate communication between university professors and elementary school teachers.

CSULB's proposal was one of 66 aimed toward funding similar programs and was part of $3.6 million that Lucent donated to universities such as Purdue, Princeton and University of Sydney, according to Lucent.

"Cal State Long Beach has gained a national reputation for its commitment to teacher education and emphasis on collaboration with educational partners," said CSULB President Robert Maxson in a statement released through CSULB.  "We are honored that the Lucent Technologies Foundation has recognized our accomplishments."

The foundation is the charitable division of Lucent Technologies, a global communications company that reported revenue of $38.8 billion in 1999.

"As a part of a technology industry that is rapidly changing the way people work, live and play, Lucent is aware that young people need to be equipped to meet the challenges and changes that await them," said foundation President David Ford in a statement.

"Education is the key to success," Ford said, "and this program gives us the opportunity to be a force in enhancing many of their lives."

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