NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

9/30/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Northwestern State University will use its portion of a $2.4 million federal grant to improve teacher retention in poverty-stricken schools. The Transition to Teaching Grant, an extension of the New Teacher Project Act, will provide about $90,000 per year to NSU for next five years.

NSU has already been successful in recruiting and training teachers in critical needs areas such as math and science through their alternative certification program. The problem NSU will focus on is retaining those teachers placed in schools where support, motivation and leadership may be lacking.

"Our numbers are strong in alternative certification," explained Dr. Vickie Gentry, Dean of NSU's College of Education. "The cry for help for those who complete our program is 'Give me the professional development I need to be successful.'"

Gentry plans to increase retention by providing support through an individual to mentor and counsel new teachers. The individual will stay in contact with each new teacher, their teacher mentor and principal, and provide a means to discuss challenges the new teacher faces in the classroom.

"If we can get out to a school and impact one or two of our program completers, I would like to think the support they have will carry over to other teachers," Gentry said.

The Transition to Teaching grant is designed to help increases the number of certified teachers in Louisiana by recruiting mid-career professionals and recent college graduates to become teachers. The recruits are trained through an alternative certification program to be placed in high-needs schools.

The grant was written through a partnership between NSU, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University and the University of Louisiana-Monroe. ULM will act as the fiscal agent. The four universities combined have recruited and trained hundreds of new teachers over the past year alone to increase the number of certified teachers in the state's poorest school districts.

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