Dr. Patricia Doran, Associate Professor in the College of Education, has been awarded a 5-year, 2.2 million dollar grant from the United States Department of Education Office of English Language Acquisition.
Entitled “English Learners Moving to Proficient Outcomes with Engagement and Rigor (EMPOWER)”, Dr. Doran’s project will aid the increasing population of English learner students in Anne Arundel County.
The grant provides support for selected College of Education undergraduates to take elective courses in English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Additionally, the grant involves a partnership with the Children’s Guild, an educational nonprofit, which operates two contract schools in partnership with Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Monarch Academy in Laurel and Monarch Academy in Annapolis. The grant provides support for 18 selected educators to complete a Master’s degree in educational leadership with ESOL and special education coursework embedded.
Dr. Betsy Neville, Special Education department chair, and Dr. Gilda Martinez-Alba, Educational Technology & Literacy department chair, are serving as co-Principal Investigators, and Dr. Ray Lorion of Towson University Center for Application and Innovation Research in Education will lead the evaluation effort for the project.
