UW Wins $4.12M Grant for K-12 English as a Second Language Educator Training

Some 120 Wyoming K-12 educators will have the opportunity to earn English as a second language (ESL) teaching endorsements, and about 40 teachers will gain master’s degrees in the field, as a result of a $4.12 million federal grant secured by the University of Wyoming.

Assistant Professor Amin Davoodi, of UW’s College of Education, received the grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s National Professional Development Program. The award supports a five-year project -- called the Wyoming Educators Learning through Credentialing and Outreach for Multilingual Education (WELCOME) Project -- starting Jan. 1.

“This is a remarkable achievement,” says Jenna Shim, the John “Jack” Ellbogen Dean of the College of Education, who notes that the National Professional Development Program is one of the Department of Education’s premier competitive grant programs, with only about 10 percent of applicants receiving funding. “This makes Amin’s success particularly significant and speaks to the strength of the project and its potential impact. The WELCOME Project will strengthen Wyoming’s educator workforce by preparing approximately 160 Wyoming K-12 teachers through high-quality, evidence-based professional development.”

Wyoming has experienced a statewide shortage of ESL-endorsed educators across all grade levels for a number of years. By substantially increasing the number of teachers with specialized preparation in multilingual education, the WELCOME Project represents a transformational investment in Wyoming’s educational workforce and its capacity to meet the needs of multilingual learners, Shim says.

The project will provide full tuition support for participating educators in UW’s College of Education. UW offers a 15-credit graduate certificate that leads to a K-12 ESL endorsement from the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board. The other participating educators will pursue the Master of Education degree in curriculum and instruction, with an ESL concentration.

“This project will remove financial barriers to graduate education, expand access to advanced credentials for Wyoming teachers, increase graduate enrollment at the University of Wyoming and build long-term statewide capacity to better serve multilingual learners,” Shim says. “It will expand research and outreach activities, strengthen partnerships with school districts throughout Wyoming, and further establish the University of Wyoming and our college as leaders in multilingual education and educator preparation.”

In addition to providing full tuition support for Wyoming K-12 educators to earn ESL endorsements and master’s degrees, the WELCOME Project includes an annual WELCOME Summer Institute hosted at UW. Each summer, participating K-12 teachers from across the state will come together on campus for several days of intensive professional learning featuring nationally recognized experts in multilingual education, hands-on workshops and collaborative learning focused on evidence-based instructional practices for multilingual learners.

Another key component of the project is ongoing in-person instructional coaching and classroom observation. Throughout the five-year grant, project staff members will travel to participating schools across Wyoming to observe instruction, provide individualized coaching and feedback, and support educators as they implement evidence-based practices for multilingual learners in their own classrooms.

For more information about the WELCOME Project, email Davoodi at adavoodi@uwyo.edu or call (307) 766-3082.

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