L. Mickey Fenzel, Ph.D., associate dean of Loyola University Maryland's School of Education, and Cathy Rosensteel, co-director of special education and practicum coordinator, have been awarded a four-year, $56,000 grant from the Maryland State Department of Education. The award is funded by the Maryland Teaching Consortium portion of the federal Race to the Top grant program, and is intended to support the development of programs to prepare teachers for high-poverty and high-minority-population schools in order to increase the number of effective urban teachers, address the equitable distribution of teachers, and help improve teacher retention in these settings.
Under Fenzel and Rosensteel's leadership, Loyola's School of Education will partner with Baltimore's Barclay Elementary/Middle School and Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School to provide professional development for the schools' teachers and to place teacher interns from Loyola in the two schools. Both schools will also serve as Loyola Professional Development Schools beginning in fall 2011.
"Loyola's School of Education was founded on a mission of transforming urban education, of preparing teachers and school administrators to become innovators ready take on the challenges inherent in city schools," said Fenzel. "This project plays a critical role in this effort, and we are thrilled to have these funds available to support and advance our vital partnerships with Margaret Brent and Barclay elementary and middle schools.”
Grant activities are already under way and will continue through August 2014.
For more information or questions regarding this story, contact Media Relations Manager Nick Alexopulos at nalexopulos@loyola.edu or 410-617-5025.