The Educational Studies Department of Columbia College Chicago, in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools and Summit School District 104, has received a $318,100.00 grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) for their project “Extending Teacher Capacity to Increase English Language Learners (ELL) Success in Mathematics.” The grant represents the fourth year of support for the Columbia project and comes under the IBHE’s No Child Left Behind Improving Teacher Quality initiative.
The program funded by the grant will prepare teachers to adapt standards-based mathematics instruction to meet the linguistic needs and enhance the linguistic strengths of students enrolled in bilingual or English-as-a-new-language (ENL) programs. The project is unique in that it adds the dimension of the arts to lessons learned about effective mathematics and English-as-a-new-language instruction. The goal of the instructional model and professional development plan is to increase student learning in mathematics as well as build teaching capacity that can be sustained in a variety of school districts.
“The IBHE’s generous and continuing support for this project is an indication of their recognition of the need to expand access to education to all students,” says Dr. Ava Belisle-Chatterjee, chair of the Educational Studies department at Columbia. “It also demonstrates their recognition of the value of the arts in providing avenues to accessing learning in all subject areas.”
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