PSU Vanguard
October 27th, 2014
The Graduate School of Education at Portland State received a $1.2 million grant in late September for its American Indian Teaching Program by the Office of Indian Education, a part of the U.S. Department of Education.
The AITP aids American Indian students in obtaining their teaching licenses and master’s degrees.
“Through our professional development seminars, we make sure to emphasize culturally responsive teaching. We provide them more methodology about how to create a culturally responsive classroom for Native and non-Native children,” said Micki Caskey, associate dean and principal grant investigator for the AITP.
The grant is similar to one the AITP received in 2010 from the Office of Indian Education to kick-start the program. Maria Tenorio, project director for the program, said it successfully produced 12 American Indian teachers over the course of four years.
“Our focus will continue to be the same, but we’ll tweak it a bit. We were just getting started during our first grant cycle. We prioritize community based education,” Tenorio said.