Bilingual Education Grant

TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY RECEIVES $1.3 MILLION BILINGUAL EDUCATION GRANT

Texas Wesleyan University has been selected to receive more than $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Professional Development Program. The grant award will be approximately $273,000 per year for five years and begins immediately.

The Wesleyan - Tarrant County Project will provide quality training to prepare 175 (about 35 per year) pre-service, and paraprofessionals to increase the number of certified teachers meeting the linguistic, cultural and academic needs of English Language Learners (ELL students) in the 13 partner school districts: Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Lake Worth, White Settlement, Eagle-Mountain Saginaw, Castleberry, Mansfield, Birdville, Everman, Burleson, and Irving. The project is strengthened by the Tarrant County College partnership and its role of providing students with the first 45 to 54 hours of coursework, at a more economical cost. This three-way partnership will make obtaining an undergraduate degree and a teaching certificate a reality to many first generation and underrepresented students.

In addition to scholarship funds for students majoring in bilingual education at Texas Wesleyan, the project will also provide 10 professional development training sessions to at least 300 teachers, principals and other administrators from the 13 partner school districts. Presenters will be University faculty, and local and state experts, speaking about topics identified by the districts in the needs assessment.

“This grant award demonstrates the continued confidence that the U.S. Department of Education and local school districts have with Wesleyan's ability to produce quality bilingual educators to serve the growing number of non-English speaking students in the Metroplex,” said Carlos Martinez, dean of the School of Education. “This is the 8th grant award that Wesleyan has received since the early nineties to meet the needs of the non-English speaking children of the Metroplex. The number of bilingual teachers produced by Wesleyan is so great that is difficult for me to visit a school in the Metroplex and not run into a former student.”

Texas Wesleyan University, founded in 1890 in Fort Worth, is a United Methodist institution with a tradition in the liberal arts and sciences with professional and career preparation. The mission at Texas Wesleyan University is to develop students to their full potential as individuals and as members of the world community.

For more information, call Dr. Carlos Martinez at 817-531-4945.

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