ASAP 2 TEACH PROJECT

Funded by Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education

OUR VISION

Texas A&M University-San Antonio (A&M-SA) will be a national hub and model for preparing bilingual and multilingual teachers to teach in the nation’s increasing population of English Learners (ELs), thus empowering non-native English speakers to be contributing and active citizens of our country.

OUR MISSION

To develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate an action-oriented bilingual and multilingual teacher preparation program that responds to the prevailing shortage of such teachers in high-need local education agencies and hard-to-reach schools in the country.

OUR OBJECTIVES

Through Aspiring Students to Advance Professionally (ASAP) – to (2) Teach project, our objectives aim to serve multilingual English learners, parents, and communities. The project will target four potential participants.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

1. Bilingual Education Students – ASAP2TEACH will certify 60 bilingual pre-service teachers over a period of four years. These are students enrolled at A&M-SA who aspire to complete their degrees in education and obtain teaching certifications in bilingual education or English as a Second Language (ESL).
2. In-Service Teachers – ASAP2TEACH will certify 30 in-service teachers with a Microcredential certificate for English as a Second Language (ESL) certification over a period of four years. These are in-service teachers, currently with an initial teacher certification and working as a teacher of record in a school and who desire to improve knowledge, skills, and abilities and obtain teaching certification in ESL.
3. Paraprofessionals– ASAP2TEACH will improve the classroom teaching abilities of 15 paraprofessionals, who are also considered in this project as pre-service teachers, by 25% over a period of four years. These are paraprofessional or teaching assistants working at local schools who are currently without initial teacher certification. Paraprofessionals will work towards obtaining their teaching certifications in Bilingual Education or ESL.
4. High and Middle School Students – ASAP2TEACH will improve the awareness of the bilingual education teaching profession of 120 high and middle school students by 50% over a period of four years. These are high and middle school students who will join the junior Bilingual Education Student Organization (BESITOS) at their schools. They will participate in activities to develop their awareness about the education profession and teaching of English Learners.