ASU wins SEED grant for Common Core

On Wednesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced nearly $30 million for six grant awards to improve student achievement by increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals. The Mary Lou Fulton School of Education at Arizona State University, NIET, will use their grant funds to provide professional development to over 4,000 undergraduate teacher candidates and in-service teachers to improve the teaching of Common Core Writing Standards.

Additionally, they will prepare 214 new teachers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields over three years by implementing recruitment strategies designed to increase the number of participants from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM.

Their project more than doubles the amount of time undergraduate teacher candidates spend in classrooms by providing increased clinical experiences in the junior year and a full year residency in the senior year. In the undergraduate program, teacher candidates spend one full day per week in internships in the first year of the program and 4 days per week in the final year. All coursework and clinical experiences take place in the school district, and the program follows the school district calendar rather than ASU’s academic calendar.

The Arizona State Board of Education adopted Common Core standards and included preferred reading lists and other supplemental materials.

The SEED program is funded through the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011.