THURGOOD MARSHALL COLLEGE FUND LAUNCHES TRAINING INSTITUTES TO SUPPLY 10,000 TEACHERS TO URBAN AND RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS

THURGOOD MARSHALL COLLEGE FUND LAUNCHES TRAINING INSTITUTES TO SUPPLY 10,000 TEACHERS

TO URBAN AND RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Applications for HBCU Teacher Quality and Retention Program’s Paid Summer Institutes Will Close March 30

Four Regional Institutes in

New Orleans, LA – March 18, 2009 - The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) this week, launched its national HBCU Teacher Quality & Retention Program during its 10^th Annual Member Universities Professional Institute & Exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana. The innovative new outreach program will recruit, prepare and retain 10,000 new and aspiring teachers from the 47 public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to teach in urban and rural secondary schools. Many of the presidents and chancellors were in attendance during the announcement.

Four regional summer training institutes will open in June, and will be staffed by practitioners and national experts. The 2009 locations are: Washington, D.C.; Winston Salem, North Carolina; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; and San Jose, California.

Dwayne Ashley, President and CEO of TMCF, said the HBCU Teacher Quality and Retention Program answers the Obama Administration's challenge for meaningful innovation and reform in education. “HBCUs are investing in our future leaders so they have the tools to innovate and succeed, especially in the priority fields of science and math,” Ashley told the more than 400 attendees during Day 2 of the Annual Conference.

“Many of these public HBCUs were started more than 100 years ago as teachers’ colleges. Although they now offer a full range of academic disciplines, our schools are continuing a proud tradition of producing African American and minority teachers. This is both a challenging and exciting time for the education community, and HBCUs must play an active and innovative part in it.”

The audience at the New Orleans Marriott French Quarter also included 200 student scholars, many of whom are majoring in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines that the recruiting effort is focusing on.

The ultimate goal of the HBCU Teacher Quality and Retention Program is to serve 10,000 aspiring and new teachers within its first five years, of which 30 percent will be STEM majors, and 40 percent will be African American males. The advisory committee co-chairs for the program are Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond from Winston-SalemStateUniversity, and Dr. Calvin Johnson from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.