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UT program trains teachers for high-need school districts

by Doug Tabner,  Toledo Business Journal [Click Here]

Independent Collegian [Click Here]

For Kilian King and Leonissa Johnson, it’s an inviting passageway toward new careers. For Antonio Bradley, it’s an opportunity to help him start his first career.
Mr. King, 51; Ms. Johnson, 31, and 21-year-old Mr. Bradley are among the students enrolled in UT³, a University of Toledo program designed to help fill the shortage of math and science teachers and also increase the number of African American teachers in school classrooms.
UT³ also aims to increase diversity within UT’s College of Education, said Charlene Czerniak, the program’s director.
“We hope it has a large impact on the university and the community it serves,” she said.
Now in its second year, UT³ (“UToledo, UTeach, UTouch the Future”) has a goal of recruiting 25 students each year. It’s offered to anyone who may be interested in a career as a math or science teacher, but emphasis is put on recruiting more African Americans and other minorities, who make up only a small percentage of the nation’s teachers.
Mr. King, Ms. Johnson and Mr. Bradley intend to increase that percentage.
Mr. King, a native of Ghana, West Africa, for most of his adult life was an oil exploration engineer. He most enjoyed teaching oil field methods to young geologists and, even more so, his younger years when he taught math and science in village schools in Ghana.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur announced last week The University of Toledo is the recipient of a five-year, $6 million grant to provide enhanced training for area primary and secondary math and science teachers and recruit new educators to the fields.

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Teacher Quality Enhancement Partnership Program, is the largest federal award in the University’s history.

Kaptur, who played a key role in securing the grant, said she was pleased to see “our taxpayer funds returned to UT.”

The money will be used to recruit and enhance the skills of math and science teachers in Toledo Public Schools and the area’s parochial schools through enhanced training at UT.

“I commend the University, Toledo Public Schools and the Toledo Catholic schools for their institutional commitment that makes this initiative possible,” Kaptur said.

This new initiative, called UToledo.UTeach.UTouch the Future (UT³) will help ensure that Toledo teachers and new students enrolling in teaching courses have a strong background in math and science. Kaptur said about 37,000 teachers will be retiring in the next decade. According to the Ohio Department of Education, this represents about one-third of Ohio’s teachers.

“Ohio doesn’t have enough math and science teachers — particularly in urban areas,” said UT President Dan Johnson, praising Kaptur for her efforts supporting higher education. “We want to thank you for your leadership in Congress on this important issue.”

Johnson said the UT³ project increases the ability of The University of Toledo to reach out to primary and secondary math and science teachers to provide them with additional training to continue to improve teaching quality. The program also is designed to recruit and prepare teachers in the high-need areas of science and math and increase the number of people who major in these areas but may not have considered teaching as a career path.

New undergraduate and graduate courses will be added, as well as clinical experiences to provide teachers with greater training and professional development services. An executive board composed of University, primary and secondary teachers, as well as community leaders, will oversee the program and its incorporation into the colleges of Education and Arts and Sciences.

Future teachers’ aptitude in science and math play an integral role in northwest Ohio’s well-being, Kaptur said.

“Now is the time to expand investments in the next generation.”

Dr. Eugene Sanders, Toledo Public Schools superintendent, added this was another positive step for Toledo Public Schools and hoped the program could establish a pattern of continually improving test scores.

The UT³ program falls in line with UT’s mission of being an engaged university. In addition to Toledo’s public and Catholic schools, UT will collaborate with educational institutions like COSI and the Toledo Zoo to enhance math and science learning citywide.

Citing personal experience, Kaptur said it was difficult for her to make the jump from high school to college due to the poor quality of some of the teaching she received during her high school years.

“It shouldn’t have been that way,” she said.