Towson University: ‘Washington Post' Spotlights TU As It Prepares Teachers For Multilingual Future

Press release from Towson University:

Towson University's ELEVATE program from College of Education is leading national
conversation.

Towson University's pioneering College of Education (COE), which is one of the country's
leaders in training future teachers, was highlighted by “The Washington Post” on Nov. 8 for an innovative program preparing
for bilingual classrooms.

The story comes on the heels of recent grants to the COE for the program. To support the university’s preparation of educators, including those who teach
English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), the U.S. Department of Education Office
of English Language Acquisition awarded Towson University $2.7 million over five years
for Enhancing Literacy for English Learners: Valuing Assets Through Engagement (ELEVATE).

The grant builds on a previous five-year, federally funded project, EMPOWER, in which TU partnered with Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) and AACPS’
largest contract school operator, the Children’s Guild. ELEVATE further develops these
partnerships to improve instruction for English learners with an additional focus
on literacy.

“It really brings together literacy and ESOL,” project director Danielle Turner ’09,
’19 told the TU Newsroom last month. “As a graduate of the reading education master's program, I'm a big fan of the new grant tapping into that asset of the program
we already have and pairing it with the certification in ESOL.”

Funding will support coursework and training activities enabling 96 TU education students
and 32 in-service teachers to receive ESOL endorsement. The funding also supports
training for an additional 100 school staff members and 100 family members per year.

Lynnett Hernandez ’22, an early childhood and special education major who will be
prepared to obtain her ESOL endorsement through the existing federal grant, told the
“Washington Post” her upbringing in a bilingual household inspired her to desire to
work with multilingual students.

“We really learned that we never know how much knowledge or potential a child can
hold until we can fully accommodate and break down language barriers in the classroom,”
said Hernandez, who is Salvadoran American. At TU, she has learned strategies to build relationships with families and support
students who have experienced learning loss or challenges at home.

Read more of “The Washington Post” story on COE.

This press release was produced by Towson University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.