UMBC’s Secondary Teacher Education and Professional Training for English Language Learners (or STEP T for ELLs) program has been awarded an additional year of funding by the U.S. Department of Education. The program is funded through the Office of English Language Acquisition.
The STEP T for ELLs Program helps secondary teachers of math, science, and social studies to provide effective instruction to ESOL students. This program provides professional development in areas such as teaching strategies and cross-cultural communications.
The program has surpassed its original goal of training 880 in-service teachers and 60 teacher leaders in the state of Maryland. The program has already trained 1,040 in-service teachers (math, science, social studies, and ESOL) and 273 teacher leaders. These teacher leaders in Montgomery County Public Schools, Howard County Public School System, and Frederick County Public Schools will be training teachers in their school systems using STEP T for ELLs Program modules. In addition, the program leaders are developing online professional development modules to be offered in the Maryland State Department of Education.
This program builds an understanding of who ELLs are and how to communicate across cultures effectively. More information about the program can be found here.
