“Teaching That Makes a Difference”
UMBC is a leader in assisting Marylands most troubled public schools through Project SUPPORT (School-University Partnership to Prepare Outstanding Responsive Teachers), a remarkably successful federally funded program that will ultimately place 1,100 teachers in Baltimore City and hundreds more in Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties.
Our school-university partnerships will break a tradition of neglect by recruiting, preparing, mentoring and retaining the high-quality teachers necessary to improve student learning and achievement, says UMBC Clinical Associate Professor of Education John Lee, who heads the project.
The program is a win-win for public school students, their schools and UMBCs urban teachers-in-training. UMBCs teacher trainees receive tuition support for their masters level studies and undertake apprenticeships with veteran teachers in the school system. By year-end, UMBC will have 150 urban teacher graduates.
In turn, the programs public school partners are promised that UMBC teacher candidates will sign on for five years. As a result, teacher attrition in many of these schools is down. Moreover, in schools where UMBC has provided academic services, student achievement has soared.
