SSU Collaborative Nets $735,984 Grant

SALISBURY, MD---The United States Department of Education recently awarded a $735,984 grant to Salisbury State University’s Charles R. and Martha N. Fulton School of Liberal Arts for the "Bilingual Education: Training for all Teachers" program. The program is a partnership effort between public schools in the eight Maryland and two Virginia counties on the Eastern Shore, as well as Chesapeake College and Eastern Shore Community College.

The purpose of the project is to increase the supply and quality of teachers prepared to serve limited English proficiency (LEP) students in the public schools in the 10 counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, many of which are culturally homogeneous, isolated and poor.

The goal of the project is to upgrade the qualifications and skills of pre-service teachers and pre-service school principals in ESOL/bilingual education; to develop interaction and collaboration among pre-service and in-service teachers and principals in improving the quality of content instruction to LEP students in the local schools; and to improve the K-16 educational path for LEP students which would result in an increasing number of bilingual students in SSU teacher training programs.