PEBC Awarded $2.9 Million to Train STEM Teachers in Rural Colorado

DENVER, Sept. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- PEBC (Public Education & Business Coalition), a nonprofit that works with teachers, schools and districts to cultivate highly effective K-12 educators to elevate student achievement, has won a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program totaling $2.9 million to support the Boettcher Teacher Residency (BTR) program over the next five years. In partnership with Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo. and the Boettcher Foundation, which has provided generous funding of BTR for more than 11 years, the Residency prepares individuals to have extraordinary teaching careers in Colorado's highest needs schools through a hands-on master's degree program.

"PEBC is honored to receive this highly competitive funding to grow and expand the Boettcher Teacher Residency program for Colorado's rural school districts," said Rosann B. Ward, PEBC president. "It is an opportunity for the education community to examine, evaluate and redefine quality teacher preparation, and how great teaching drives student success."

BTR is among 24 programs nationwide selected to share $35 million in federal funds to improve teacher preparation programs. BTR will use the grant to train new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teachers in fifteen of Colorado's rural school districts, including:  Alamosa, North Conejos, Center, Monte Vista, Moffat 2, Sierra Grande, Centennial, Del Norte, Sangre de Cristo, Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores RE-2, Rocky Ford, East Otero, Crowley and Huerfano.

"Colorado is a leader in developing innovative teacher preparation programs," said U.S. Senator Michael Bennet. "The Boettcher Teacher Residency will help ensure all of our kids in Colorado receive a high-quality education. Our teachers and principals are key to preparing students for success, and we need to give them every tool and resource to make that possible."

"We look forward to working with our partners at PEBC to educate great STEM teachers and help rural schoolchildren." said Dr. David Svaldi, president of Adams State University.

Grant Competition Focused On STEM
The Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) program aims to increase student achievement by improving the preparation of new prospective teachers. The U.S. Department of Education awards grants to partnerships comprised of colleges and universities and high-needs schools that are developing model teacher preparation programs.

In support of the Obama Administration's effort to recruit and train 100,000 STEM teachers by 2020, this year's TQP competition focused on programs preparing teachers to provide disadvantaged students with rigorous coursework in the STEM fields. PEBC and BTR are highly focused on recruiting, training and retaining Colorado's STEM teaching force especially at the elementary level to create and mold students with strong STEM skills prior to entering secondary school. PEBC presented the inaugural Colorado Collaborative STEM Summit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science earlier this year and is a partner organization for 100Kin10, a multi-sector network addressing the national imperative to train 100,000 STEM teachers by 2021. For more information visit www.pebc.org.  

SOURCE PEBC