# Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of

# Excellence Program Grants

# FY 2022 New Award Abstracts

**Applicant Name:**University of Texas El Paso

**Total Requested:**$1,586,079

**Project Title:**Augustus F. Hawkins Center of Excellence for Hispanic Teacher Preparation at UTEP: Strengthening the Hispanic Teacher Pipeline through Systems-Level Transformation

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:** 400

**Brief project description:**The overriding goal of the Augustus F. Hawkins Center of Excellence for Hispanic Teacher Preparation (CEHTP) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is to recruit, prepare, and retain predominantly Hispanic teachers to serve students of color in high-needs school districts through a research-based, competency-aligned pre- and post-baccalaureate curriculum combined with a robust, data-driven, year-long residency.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**1. Recruit prospective teachers, the majority of whom will be Hispanic/Latinx, especially into the high-needs certification areas of bilingual education and special education 2. Provide high-quality preparation to teacher candidates through aligned, research- based curricula and coaching-intensive, year-long paid residency (Miner Teacher Residency) in high- needs partner schools that serve predominantly students of color; 3. Provide wrap-around supports to candidates in bilingual education and ESL pathways in order to increase the bilingual and ESL certification rates of program completers; 4. Collect, analyze, use, and share programmatic and performance-based data through shared governance structures with partner LEAs to continually improve teacher preparation and development efforts; 5. Serve as a model of excellence in building and sustaining the Hispanic teacher pipeline.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 7

**Applicant Name:**University of Hawaii

**Total Requested:**$1,592,314

**Project Title:**Project Equal Access

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:** 300

**Brief project description:**This project supplements the existing rigorous, special education teacher training programs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to increase and retain more well-prepared bilingual/multilingual teachers of color resulting in a more diverse teacher workforce prepared to serve diverse students of color in the rural and remote areas in hard-to-staff schools across the state. Project Equal Access will address the disproportionately underrepresented Native Hawaiian (NH), Asian, and Native American Pacific Islander (PI) special educators within the teacher workforce particularly in the rural and remote areas where shortages of fully credentialed special educators is greatest.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**(1) Identify inequities and inadequacies of State Approved Teacher Education Programs (SATEP) from recruitment to induction, (2) Improve mentor teachers practice and knowledge in mentoring bilingual multilingual teacher candidates of color,

(3) Increase relevant pedagogy within curriculum (e.g., culturally relevant, diverse learners, bilingual/multilingual learners), (4) Provide supports to increase enrollment, participation, and program completion, and (5) Maximize dissemination of project findings/resources.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 7

**Applicant Name:**William Paterson University (WPU) (Wayne, New Jersey)

**Total Requested:**$1,599,999

**Project Title:**William Paterson Pioneer Education Center (WPPEC)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:** 173

**Brief project description:**WPPEC is a proposed partnership with five local education agencies (LEAs)throughout the University’s New Jersey service area intending to expand to other LEAs and the potential for replication throughout the state and nation. **Brief project description:**WPPEC is a proposed partnership with five local education agencies (LEAs)throughout the University’s New Jersey service area intending to expand to other LEAs and the potential for replication throughout the state and nation.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**The WPPEC will coordinate and personalize services and support at all points in the teacher pipeline with a focus on (1) reducing barriers in teacher candidate recruitment and preparation toward the attainment of teacher licensure, (2) placing teacher candidates in high need LEAs and hard-to-staff schools in underserved communities, and (3) supporting high-need LEAs and hard-to-staff schools through University-district partnerships that include tailored and systemic professional development to encourage the retention of a diverse teacher workforce.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 5

**Applicant Name:**California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH)

**Total Requested:**$1,599,946

**Project Title:**Multilingual/Minoritized Educators Networked-Learning and Development (MEND)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:** 150

**Brief project description:**MEND Fellows will participate in these primary activities: a) Mentorship and material support services; b) Early and extensive clinical field experiences; c) Networked Improvement Communities consisting of fellows, faculty, and district partners; and d) Development and dissemination of findings for MEND partners around wellness, racial and linguistically sustaining teaching. Mentor teachers will be compensated to honor their time and contributions in supporting future teachers. Taken together, these activities support our aspirational goal to identify and scale up our approach for replication in university and K-12 school partnerships.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**1) Increased number of teachers of color credentialed through CSUDH pre-service teacher education programs and bilingual programs; 2) Evidence identifying improvement for how CSUDH recruits, retains, and supports multilingual/minoritized educators into the profession; 3) The distribution and evaluation of stipened awards and integrated academic and student affairs services, which will shift the focus from affordability and access to improving completion and retention of future teachers; and 4) A stronger culture of inquiry through robust institutional partnerships, in addition to a rigorous research base and body of evidence for effective best practices in clinical experiences.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by project:**LA Unified School District

**Applicant Name:**Northeastern State University 

**Total Requested:**$1,512,832

**Project Title:**River Hawk Center for Teacher Excellence (RCTE)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:**137

**Brief project description:**The purpose of this comprehensive teacher center is to meet the needs of diverse teachers and teacher candidates on tribal lands in the area and in the surrounding regions and have one common place to find assistance such as scholarship opportunities, professional development, and connections within the diverse community for overall support.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**1. Increasing the number of aspiring teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and/or bilingual/multilingual to 52.1% and those admitted into the Teacher Education Program to 49.2%; 2. Increase the number of teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and/or bilingual/multilingual successfully progressing in the Teacher Education Program to 70%; 3. Increase the number of teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and/or bilingual/multilingual and passing teacher certification tests to 85%; 4. Increase the number of teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and/or bilingual/multilingual completing the Teacher Education Program to 46%; 5. Increase the number of teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and/or bilingual/multilingual to become fully certified and be placed as teachers of record in high-need LEAs or hard-to-staff schools to 52%; 6. Increase the number of ACE Certificate completers from diverse backgrounds and/or bilingual/multilingual to 80%.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 7

**Applicant Name:**Florida International University 

**Total Requested:**$1,565,498

**Project Title:**Supporting Educators to Educate Diverse Students (SEEDS)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:**120

**Brief project description:**Project SEEDS will create four teacher preparation tracks, including a cohort of paraprofessionals already employed in the LEA, two cohorts of monolingual English speakers, two cohorts bilingual Spanish/English speakers, and two cohorts of bilingual Haitian Creole/English. Projects SEEDs will reduce the barriers that typically affect students enrollment in teacher preparation programs, including paid teaching experiences, test preparation, and dedicated advising. Overall, project SEEDS will graduate 120 teacher candidates, to disrupt the cycle of teacher shortage and ensure students graduate significantly more prepared to work in high need schools and improve student success.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**Project SEEDS will build upon the high- quality teacher preparation programs to increase the number of traditionally underrepresented bi/multilingual teachers in high-needs and hard-to-staff Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS).

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:**Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS).

**Applicant Name:**Metropolitan State University Denver 

**Total Requested:**$1,571,926

**Project Title:**Disrupting Inequality: Designing School of Education Programs for Traditionally Underrepresented Students

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:**105

**Brief project description:**The project will extend and enhance pre-services learning for traditionally underrepresented pre-service teachers (with a focus on bilingual teachers). Recruitment includes utilizing scholarships for paraprofessionals in a high-needs bilingual district, Denver Public Schools. Retention strategies such as strategic Co-teaching and Academic Communities are focused on Universal Design for Learning, instructional technology, and building trusting relationships with families.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**Recruit and retain historically under- represented and bilingual and/or multilingual prospective teachers in MSU Denver School of Education. Increase completion rates of traditionally under-represented students by providing comprehensive support for current and prospective students to implement pedagogical practices that prepare teacher candidates to integrate rigorous academic content while designing and delivering instruction in ways that are engaging and connected to families.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:**Denver Metro Area

**Applicant Name:**Medgar Evers College of New York 

**Total Requested:**$1,599,738

**Project Title:**Medgar Evers College School of Global Education: Global Agents in Teacher Education (GATE)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:**100

**Brief project description:**(1) increase the supply of certified teachers of color with career paths in high need schools in Central Brooklyn; (2) increase the supply of bilingual teachers of color to serve dual language students; and, (3) increase teacher effectiveness in research-based interdisciplinary instruction and culturally responsive pedagogy and practice.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**The expectation is that an earlier supervised residency engagement will eliminate most of the barriers to enrollment, retention, and graduation of teachers of color, including economic hardships resulting in attrition in teacher preparation programs and underrepresentation in teaching careers. Through paid residencies, stipends, and a suite of wrap-around support services, and supervised enhanced preparation, the Project expects to increase retention and completion rates of at least 100 teacher candidates of color over the next four years to fill shortage areas in high need schools in Central Brooklyn.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 8

**Applicant Name:**University of Houston Clear Lake 

**Total Requested:**$1,599,669

**Project Title:**STEM4ALL

Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:**60

**Brief project description:**The STEM4ALL program will support preservice, in-service, and educators seeking professional development in STEM Literacy and inclusion in Multilingual education with an ESL supplemental certification. The STEM4ALL program will recruit, retain, and support 30 new preservice students from the UHCL*Teach*program. STEM4ALL involves UHCL*Teach*student organization Future Educators in STEM, culturally responsive teaching strategies and the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation (CELF). CELF’s educator team will support four *UHCLTeach*cohorts reaching up to 100 preservice educators with mentorship and student project implementation support during their classroom placements, with additional support for up to 20 full-time teachers working in K-12 schools.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**The proposed project seeks to apply CELF’s *Civic Science: Inquiry to Action*framework for interdisciplinary exploration of local environmental challenges, with an emphasis on developing scientific storytelling skills to empower students to effectively communicate research findings and innovate solutions that can support learning in Language Arts alongside the Math and Science focus of the *UHCLTeach*pre-service teachers. CELF’s framework offers a practical approach to operationalizing the 5E pedagogical model of instruction that is taught in the *UHCLTeach*program, with steps 4-6 offering an authentic approach to building students’ scientific writing skills using the Claims, Evidence and Reasoning (CER) writing strategy that is part of the *UHCLTeach*program.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 4

**Applicant Name:**National Louis University 

**Total Requested:**$1,599,900

**Project Title:**Establishing a District-University Collaborative Applauding and Training Educators (EDUCATE)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period:** 60

**Brief project description:**Project EDUCATE partners will implement three multi-pathway residency programs designed specifically to increase the access, participation and success of diverse and multilingual school paraprofessionals by incorporating culturally responsive teaching and learning standards, an evidence-based learning community, and multilingual supports for academic and licensure success.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**Establish multi-pathway teacher residency programs designed to increase the access and success of diverse paraprofessionals and teaching assistants in three high need districts. Implement evidence-based practices to prepare and retain a diverse, effective and stable cadre of teachers qualified to fill shortage areas in high-need settings. To increase and disseminate the knowledge base on effective residency practices for non-traditional candidates. In Year 4, the Paraprofessional Residency model will expanded to four high need districts.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 3

**Applicant Name:**Sam Houston State University 

**Total Requested:**$1,599,900

**Project Title:**Hawkins Scholars of Excellence Program

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period**: 50

**Brief project description:**The Hawkins Scholars of Excellence Program will enhance an existing partnership between a university-based Teacher Preparation Program (TPP) and a consortium of high- needs school districts. The Hawkins Scholars of Excellence Program will focus on the various aspects of the teacher preparation pipeline. The program follows an evidence-based Year-Long Residency model and Novice Teacher Induction model. After admission to the Education Preparation Program (EPP), teacher candidates complete all coursework and extensive, diverse field experiences in public schools that follow a gradual release of responsibility model.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**Increase educators’ knowledge and application of instructional strategies and integration to improve students’ social, emotional, and academic learning through evidence-based practices. Retain highly effective teachers in traditionally underserved LEAs.

Increase teachers’ culturally responsive classroom-ready leadership behaviors. Increase the number of teachers prepared to fill shortage-area positions in traditionally underserved LEAs. Increase teacher diversity. Increase teachers’ knowledge of evidence-based instructional practices and integration of social, emotional, and academic needs with the focus on underserved students. Support teachers during years 1-3through a novice teacher induction system. Increase teachers’ perceptions of success and development of teacher leadership qualities. Increase teachers’ perceptions of diversity and success during and after their residencies. Increase the number of teachers prepared through additional pathways including paraprofessional and nontraditional pathways. Increase collaboration with district/university partnerships that support diverse, clinical experiences by facilitating a pathway to full teaching credentials for those with paraprofessional experience or additional teaching credentials for those seeking bilingual or multilingual certifications.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:** 10

**Applicant Name:**Bowie State University 

**Total Requested:**$1,589,015

**Project Title:**The Bowie Black Male Educators Project (The Bowie BMEs Project)

**Competitive Preference Priorities the Project Addresses:**

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 1: Projects that are Designed to Increase and Retain the Number of Well-Prepared Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds

☒ Competitive Preference Priority 2: Increasing the Number of Bilingual and/or Multilingual Teachers with Full Certification

**Total number of teacher candidates served over the 4-year grant period**: 50

**Brief project description:**Bowie State University proposes the Bowie BMEs Project to respond to a critical need for Black male teachers in early childhood/special education (EC/SPED), elementary education (ELED), or secondary education (SCED) who are highly effective in implementing evidence- based culturally grounded academic and behavioral interventions for minoritized students at the national, state, and local levels.

**Summary of project objectives and expected outcomes:**1. Create a Center of Excellence for Black male teachers through program redesign and faculty development. 2. Design undergraduate ESOL pathway for Black male teachers to become certified in ESOL. 3. Recruit and prepare 50 Black male educators in early childhood/special education, elementary, or secondary education who can provide effective, culturally relevant/responsive instruction and work with minoritized students and families. 4. Conduct ongoing evaluation of program effectiveness. 5. Disseminate project results to assist in replicating effective strategies at other sites.

**High need local education agencies (LEAs) served by the project:**3