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U. S. Department of Education awards college over $1 million

The Delta State University College of Education and Human Sciences has been awarded a School Leadership Program grant from the U. S. Department of Education in the amount of $1,029,437.

Delta State was one of 20 applicants funded from a pool of 137 applications that were submitted to the Department of Education. This funding will enable the Division of Teacher Education, Leadership and Research to build upon its existing Educational Leadership Master’s Cohort Program through the implementation of the Delta School Leadership Pipeline Project — addressing the dual goals of increasing student achievement through the preparation of aspiring principals, and the professional development of current in-service principals to master core leaderships skills.

Dr. Leslie Griffin, Dr. Terry Harbin, Dr. JeVon Marshall, Dr. Joe Garrison, Dr. Kathe Rasch, Dr. Cheryl Cummins and Dr. Ann Harland-Webster worked collaboratively with the Office of Institutional Grants to secure this grant funding.

According to Dr. Griffin, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences, “This grant will allow us to competitively seek candidates for the program who will grow into school leadership roles and demonstrate the ability to make positive differences in school outcomes.

“Delta State is charged with preparing quality school leaders and we continually seek the means that allow us to continue our tradition in doing so. I am very appreciative of the faculty who keep this vision front and foremost in their work.”

The three goals of this project are:

1) Through an exemplary Educational Leadership Master’s Cohort Program, develop high quality school leaders and place them in high-need schools of the Mississippi Delta region.

2) Provide induction support to increase likelihood of initial effectiveness and retention of high quality school leaders in high-need schools of the Mississippi Delta region.

3) Improve the instructional leadership of current principals and other school leaders to increase student achievement in high-need schools in the Mississippi Delta region.

The U. S. Department of Education’s School Leadership Program provides grants to support the development, enhancement or expansion of innovative programs to recruit, train and mentor principals (including assistant principals) for high-need LEAs.

Eighteen public K-12 school districts and one private school in the Delta partnered with the college and provided letters of commitment for this application.

All of these districts met the eligibility requirements established by the U. S. Department of Education as being a high need Local Educational Agency defined as one that: (1) either serves at least 10,000 children from low-income families or serves a community in which at least 20 percent of children are from low-income families; and (2) has a high percentage of teachers teaching either outside of their certification or with emergency, provisional, or temporary certification.

For more information on the College of Education and Human Sciences at Delta State, visit www.deltastate.edu/college-of-education.

Photo: The Delta State University College of Education and Human Sciences was recently awarded more than $1 million in grant funding from the U. S. Department of Education. Those involved included Robin Boyles (left, front) director of grants; Leslie Griffin, Dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences; Dr. Joe Garrison (left, back), chair of the Division of Teacher Education, Leadership and Research; Dr. Terry Harbin, assistant professor of Educational Leadership; and Dr. JeVon Marshall, assistant professor of Educational Leadership.