Stephen F. Austin State University

Good news keeps coming to the College of Education at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Construction of the $28 mil ion SFA Early Childhood Research and Development Center is scheduled to begin later this year, opening doors for partnerships with local, state and national agencies.

As faculty and staff continue working toward their future goals and ambitions they will do so with more than $18 million in grant funding currently awarded in the College of Education. Funding for some of these grants began several years ago, while others were newly awarded in 2007. Grant funding in the College of Education has tripled since 2003.

SFA recently was listed as one of 139 recipients of the 2007 National Professional Development Grants funded by the Office of English L nguage Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students of the U.S. Department of Education.

“The grant will be funded at $1.43 million over the next five years,” College of Education Dean John Jacobson said. “This grant is particularly important to SFA and its school district partners, Lufkin ISD and Nacogdoches ISD, because it will provide professional development training to all SFA educator preparation faculty and school district faculty in two areas: language development and best practices in English as a second language.”

The grant will also provide the funding needed to revise SFA educator preparation curriculum so all teacher education candidates graduating from SFA will have the knowledge, skills and dispositions to pass the state ESL supplemental certification exam.

“The 2007 grant cycle was very competitive,” Jacobson said, commending those who worked on the grant.

Another substantial grant — “Transition to Teaching” was recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, Jacobson said.

“This is a $1.49 million grant with $203,280 being funded the first year,” he said.

Jacobson said this grant will overlap with another, previously funded “Transition to Teaching” grant allowing the College of Education to partner with additional school districts and expand the Secondary Education curriculum with regard to English language learners.

Another recent boon for the College of Education was the United States Senate Appropriation Committee’s approval of $200,000 for the SFA Early Childhood Research and Development Center.

The bill will now be considered and voted on by the full Senate.

In a press release issued shortly after approval came from the appropriate committee, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the funding will help SFA in its mission of improving rural and high-need education.

“Our educators deserve the best resources we can provide so that our children receive the finest education possible,” she said.

Jacobson said he attributes the increase in grant funding to a couple of different factors.

“First, we looked at the mission of the university and the College of Education, where we’re located and the population we serve,” he said. “We’re in a rural area, and we’re focusing our attention on rural needs. We’re looking at what we can do for children, families and schools in rural areas, and we’ve applied for grants that align with that mission. We’ve been strategic in how we have gone after these grants, and each one fulfills a particular need.”

Jacobson said the grants enable SFA to build relationships with schoo districts and community colleges, in addition to preparing teachers, counselors, principals, superintendents and other school personnel.

“In the process, we’re training our own faculty and the faculty of area school districts in the best practices,” he said. “When our interns go into the schools, we’re all on the same page with university educator preparation curriculum and what is being practiced in our partner schools being aligned.”

Jacobson also commended the faculty who have investigated and written the grants.

The 28 active grants within the College of Education were sponsored by several different agencies. Principal investigators for these grants included Betty Alford and Patrick Jenlink of secondary education, Leisha Bridwell and Sally Ann Swearingen of human sciences, Bill Bryan, Bob Bryant, Robert Choate, Dixie Mercer, Bill Weber and Whitney Scott of human services, Lori Harkness, Janice Pattillo and Alan Sowards of Elementary Education and John Jacobson in the dean’s office.