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Mebane program is proposed to help Davie teachers, schools
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Published: April 5, 2008
MOCKSVILLE
These days, classrooms in Davie County are literally overrun with technology.
Teachers use Smart Boards, touch-screen electronic chalkboards that use the Internet and video.
Students can take classes through video-conferencing. And now, Davie County Schools and Appalachian State University are proposing a master's-degree program that would better equip teachers for a 21st-century classroom.
The Davie County Board of Education will consider the proposal during its meeting Monday. The Mebane Charitable Foundation will cover the costs of what is being called the Mebane Masters Program.
"We really hope with the partnership to leverage technology in whatever form that suits the needs of the children, and that's what it's all about," said Larry Colbourne, the executive director of the Mebane Charitable Foundation.
Mebane Masters Program is a 36-month partnership between Davie County Schools and ASU's Reich College of Education. The program would help teachers better use technology to help students learn.
Fifteen teachers from the school system's six elementary schools, three middle schools and Davie High School will be chosen to participate in the program. Principals will nominate teachers, and a selection committee will make the final decision on who participates.
The teachers would stay in the classroom and take courses either online or through video-conferencing. In some instances, ASU instructors might come to Davie County to teach participants in the program.
Teachers in the master's program would have to agree to remain in Davie County Schools for three years after they complete the program.
Linda Bost, the school system's director of special projects, said that school officials had spent about six months developing the idea for the program. And about that time, ASU contacted Davie County Schools, she said.
"It's really a collective effort of a lot of people," Bost said.
Last year, Davie County Schools and the Mebane Charitable Foundation went to the Davie County Board of Commissioners and asked for a total of $1 million. The commissioners approved the money.
Half of that money was used to create interactive classrooms in every school, Bost said.
The other half will be used to provide computer equipment and other technology needed for the Mebane Masters Program, she said.
The foundation will cover the operating costs of the program, such as fees, tuition and other items, which add up to about $750,000, Colbourne said.
"It's not going to cost taxpayers any more money," he said.
Bost said that a big plus of the program is that the teachers will be assigned a student teacher each of the years they are in the program.
About 60 student teachers will cycle through the program, which is especially important during a time of teacher shortage, she said.
"To most principals and teachers, that's an amazing thing," Bost said.
If the Davie County school board approves the program, it would start next fall.
• Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at
mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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