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ESD 105 receives $9 million grant for new teacher readiness program

A $9,017,011 five-year federal grant this spring to ESD 105 and Toppenish’s Heritage University will launch a program in the fall that will transform the way new teachers are trained.

The joint program between Heritage and ESD 105, called “Heritage 105”, will restructure the university’s traditional teacher preparation programs and create teacher residency programs for professionals from other fields who decide to pursue a teaching career. The program will allow students in teaching programs to move directly into the “real life lab” of elementary classrooms after their first two years of undergraduate work. Incoming graduate students with a degree in a field other than education will also be able to move directly into elementary classrooms.

There, they will work with lead teachers, learning hands-on four days a week and completing intensive all-day seminars weekly. Undergraduate students will work in the schools for two years and will earn a bachelor of arts degree. Graduate students will take three semesters to complete a master of teaching degree.

“This is one of the most exciting projects that I have been involved in, and I appreciate Heritage University taking a lead role in it,” said Ian Grabenhorst, ESD 105 assistant superintendent for Educational Services. “It will provide us a unique opportunity to look at teacher preparation in a whole new light, using the learning environments of actual classrooms in some of our school districts. Pre-service educators who are training to become teachers will be connected to their work through collaborative teams based on classroom teaching content and standards of performance.”

The new Heritage 105 project is one of 12 programs nationwide that will share in $99.8 million in funding being provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Work continues on construction of the new ESD 105 facility

From zero to 21,4480 square feet in less than five days! The new facility at ESD 105 emerged on the south portion of the agency’s property in Yakima during the week of April 12-16. The 22 units of the modular building were constructed in Boise, Idaho, with much of the wiring, plumbing, and other interior features already in place. The new structure is the first modular office facility to be built in Yakima, and will open for operations later this summer.

There is a link on the ESD 105 homepage http://www.esd105.org that provides a regularly updated photo gallery showing what’s been happening at the building site.

 

 

~David Goehner, ESD 105 Public Information Officer