The ELEVATE project, funded by the United States Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition at Towson University, provides coursework and PD to support English Learners’ (EL) language acquisition, literacy development and socio-emotional well-being within the College of Education and in the AACPS schools.
Our goals:
- Build school and system capacity within 6 selected AACPS schools through comprehensive evidence-based professional development (PD) offered to over 100 school staff members per year as well as 100 families per year to support ELs’ language acquisition, literacy development and socio-emotional well-being.
- Offer a Masters program to 32 teacher-leaders within AACPS, who will become dually endorsed in ESOL and Reading, and will provide direct support, leadership and peer mentoring to colleagues regarding language and literacy instruction for ELs.
- Prepare 96 preservice educators to gain endorsement in ESOL alongside their education certificate, through integrated ESOL, literacy and special education coursework, coupled with stand-alone courses and practical workshops as part of a self-sustaining personnel preparation model.
Our partners:
The ELEVATE project is an initiative of the College of Education at Towson University working in partnership with Anne Arundel County Public Schools to identify professional development programming needs and provide collaborative support.
Our team:
Dr. Patty Rice Doran is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the EMPOWER project. She is joined by co-PIs Dr. Elizabeth Neville and Dr. Gilda Martinez-Alba. The project evaluation is led by Dr. Greg Knollman. Dr. Meg Gerry serves as project director overseeing aspects of implementation.