The Pennsylvania Department of Education has awarded $5 million in grant funding to support Pennsylvania’s educator workforce and increase the number and diversity of teachers and school leaders.

“In order to bolster our educator workforce, we must create the conditions for teachers and school leaders to learn, grow and thrive in their chosen career,” said Acting Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty. “The funding awarded in these three grant programs will complement recommended policy changes and stakeholder engagement efforts by preparing current and future educators to serve learners of all ages across the commonwealth.”

The Aspiring to Educate STEM-Computer Science (A2E STEM-CS) grant program uses PAsmart funds to make simultaneous progress to diversify the teacher workforce and increase the number, diversity and cultural awareness of STEM-CS teachers.

The Innovative Principal Prep 2 Practice grant program provides awards of up to $100,000 to approved educator-preparation programs so they can build innovative partnerships with LEAs that improve the “prep to practice” linkage in the preparation of school leaders.

The Innovative Teacher Prep 2 Practice grant program provides funding to stimulate the creation of highly cohesive and innovative clinical experiences for teachers that make explicit connections across the three stages of clinical experience: as first-year candidates, during their capstone clinicals, and induction.

PDE’s educator workforce strategy builds on the Wolf Administration’s efforts over the past eight years to ensure a high-quality education to learners of all ages across the commonwealth. The administration has increased education funding by more than $3.7 billion since 2015, with an historic increase of $1.8 billion in this year’s final budget.

For more information about Pennsylvania’s education policies and programs, please visit the Department of Education’s website. Follow PDE on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Pinterest.

Contributed article