$3M grant to aid online teacher education

From: eschoolnews
Western Governor’s University receives Labor Department funds to help train rural educators Western Governors University, a private, nonprofit online school founded and supported by the governors of 19 western states, will receive $1 million per year for three years from the U.S. Department of Labor to test a new teacher education model. The program’s goal is to help rural school systems find and retain highly qualified teachers in hard-to-staff disciplines such as math and science. WGU will offer online scholarships for rural teaching candidates, as well as academic support and mentoring following graduation from the program. The program allows individuals to continue residing in their communities while accessing their classes online. WGU will partner with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) to implement and evaluate this rural teacher initiative. The project will include working with states, workforce investment boards, one-stop career centers, and rural school districts to identify and prepare potential teacher candidates.