Fresno State has received the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant worth $7.8 million to help recruit, train and support future teachers of the Central Valley over the next five years.
The U.S. Department of Education approved the grant throughout California in order to prepare students who want to work in teaching fields, ensuring future teachers will have the training to improve student achievement.
The grant will aid students in the Teacher Residency Program, which gives students who want to teach in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) experience instructing in Fresno Unified School District.
Cindy Quintana, a Fresno Unified human resources administrator, said the grant is important for future teachers studying at Fresno State.
“Our goal is to hire 100 percent of the students,” Quintana said. “Part of being great teachers is making sure they’re effective. The Fresno Teacher Residency program’s goal is to hire 300 teachers over the next five years in grades K-12.”
FUSD prefers to hire Fresno State students because ties to the Valley lead to higher staff retention rates.
“We want our teacher residents to come from the Valley because we know they’ll most likely stay in the Valley,” said Quintana.
The district also wants its pool of teachers to “reflect the diversity of our kids who live in the Central Valley.”
The program is organized through the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. Jim Marshall, associate dean of the Kremen School of Education, helped write the TQP grant. He said Fresno Unified needs more teachers.
“One hundred percent of our graduates in teaching get jobs,” he said. “Each teacher candidate will get $12,000 of stipend. The reason for this grant is to produce all types of teachers that are strong in STEM.”
Fresno State was one of seven campuses to receive the TQP grant. Other campuses that received the grant were CSU Bakersfield, Chico State, CSU Dominguez Hills, Cal State Los Angeles and CSU Monterey Bay.
“This [grant] is about building our community,” Quintana said.