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March 10, 2009 No Child Left Behind grant renewed for Harding College of EducationSEARCY, Ark.—The Arkansas Department of Higher Education awarded a No Child Left Behind entitlement grant for the sixth consecutive year to the Cannon-Clary College of Education. These competitive grants support Arkansas educators pursuing National Board Certification.Coming from the U.S. Department of Education, No Child Left Behind grants focus on scientifically based methods of increasing teacher content knowledge. They also emphasize changing curriculum and instruction methods according to student achievement data. These provisions help universities to produce knowledgeable and flexible educators. Achieving National Board Certification is a rigorous process that has a national first-time passage rate of 40 percent. However, participants in the Harding University support program experience a first-time passage rate nearing 50 percent. In spite of its difficulty, Harding University recognizes that pursuing the certification not only produces higher quality teachers, but also professional advancement opportunities for its education majors. Dr. Clara Carroll, chair of professional field experiences and associate professor in the Cannon-Clary College of Education, reports that the college developed graduate level courses and a Master of Education degree program to guide candidates through the National Board Certification process. The college has helped to certify 194 of the 1,116 National Board certified teachers in Arkansas since 2001. “In the 2007 grant project group, 90 percent of students showed significant gains in achievement directly tied to increased knowledge and teaching strategies that teachers learned related to pursuing National Board Certification,” said Carroll. |
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