A portion of $50 million in scholarships will be distributed to prospective teachers at two San Antonio Universities over the next ten years.
Trinity and Our Lady of The Lake are two of ten schools selected statewide.
The $50 million will be split between hundreds of students over the next decade in the form of $8000 yearly scholarships.
“Our goal is to really make sure that every one of the students in public school has a really effective teacher," said Thea Ulrich-Lewis, Programs and Research Associate with Raise Your Hand Texas
Raise Your Hand Texas' "Raising Texas Teachers" program chose the ten schools based on the education program. Trinity and OLLU were selected for their residency components.
“The teachers spend essentially a full year working in classrooms, working with some really great mentor teachers before they graduate and that’s actually kind of unique among teacher preparation programs,” Ulrich-Lewis said.
Our Lady of the Lake is beginning a residency program with the San Antonio Independent School District. Alycia Maurer is the Education Department Chair at Our Lady of the Lake.
“Our student teachers, our clinical teachers will be spending one year at a local elementary school that’s actually right across the street from our campus. We’re going to put a faculty member on their campus. We’re integrating social work services and psychological services," she said.
Raise Your Hand Texas is primarily funded by HEB Chairman Charles Butt.
“Research consistently shows that the strength of the teacher makes the biggest difference in influencing a student’s success,” said Charles Butt via a press release. “To improve academic achievement, it is critical that Texas elevate the status of the teaching profession, strengthen the existing pool of aspiring teachers, and inspire our most talented high school graduates to consider a career in teaching.”
About 150 scholars statewide will be selected for the 2018-2019 school year. The number of awards could be up to 500 students per year as the program grows.
