GRAND RAPIDS,MI - Aquinas College has received a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help address the shortage of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Bilingual teachers in Michigan.
"This funding will allow us to address the crucial need for these educators in our community," said Rui Niu-Cooper, associate professor of education at Aquinas. "The grant money will support community-wide activities to help build capacity."
The grant provides resources for developing and implementing a series of professional development courses to pre-service teachers, paraprofessionals and in-service teachers. Upon successful completion of the full course sequence, participants will be eligible for Michigan Department of Education (MDE) ESL/Bilingual teaching endorsements, according to Aquinas.
"The English as a Second Language program at Aquinas is a model program and this will help us work collaboratively with our partner schools to better meet the needs of our students," Niu-Cooper said.
The grant program is in partnership with eight schools systems: Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Wyoming, Kelloggsville, Godfrey-Lee and Godwin Heights, the Kent Intermediate School District, and the Diocese of Grand Rapids Office of Catholic Schools.
There are currently 88,000 students in need of ESL education, but only 300 ESL and bilingual programs available to serve these students, according to Aquinas, citing state data.
Officials say the grant supports Niu-Cooper's leadership in improving classroom instruction for English Language Learners.
Kentwood and Grand Rapids enroll the most ELL and refugee students in West Michigan.
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Shirley Johnson, assistant superintendent for student services for Kentwood Public Schools, said the grant will allow their district and other partners to go through a series of Aquinas Endorsement programs to build teacher capacity in working more effectively with English Language Learners.
"It also opens an opportunity for us to work closely with other districts to better serve the growing EL population in the community," said Johnson, who said the grant compliments the district's professional development goals and the focus on providing a global education for all students.
The college will receive the grant funding in increments of $425,000 to 549,000 per year for five years.
"The college has always been focused on responding to the needs in the community as an educational institution," said President Juan Olivarez, citing Niu-Cooper's work as an example of the college's commitment to collaboration and community impact.
Aquinas has a project kick-off meeting scheduled for late September with recruitment of eligible teachers and paraprofessionals to begin in October.
The DOE did not immediately return calls about whether other state higher education institutions were awarded funding.