ELEVATE // Enhancing Literacy for English learners: Valuing Assets Through Engagement
Elevate, funded by the United States Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition from 2021-2026, is a five-year, multi-pronged effort at Towson University to build capacity, within the College of Education and in the community, for serving our increasing population of English learner (EL) students.
Elevate programs enhance the skills of personnel across multiple schools serving ELs, to develop curricula appropriate to the needs of AACPS and TU, and to support coursework and training activities leading to ESOL endorsement for 32 inservice and 96 preservice teachers, for a total of 128 personnel over the five years of the grant, as well as 100 additional school staff members and 100 family members receiving training per year. ELEVATE will provide a Master’s pairing literacy and ESOL, leading to MD ESOL and Reading endorsement, to 32 teachers from high-EL schools while concurrently offering intensive Professional Development support to those schools during and after each Master’s cohort. ELEVATE will also provide innovative, integrated coursework and PD in ESOL to 96 preservice teachers over three cohorts; these teachers will also pass the ESOL Praxis to gain MD ESOL endorsement.
Our Goals:
- Build school and system capacity within 6 selected AACPS schools and the system as a whole 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.
- Train a cadre of 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 special educators, who will be endorsed in ESOL alongside their special 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 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 , and our Project Director is Mrs. Danielle Turner.