Birth Through Five Program receives funding from Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
 
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has awarded a three-year, $217,158 challenge grant to help Georgia State University prepare students from local technical colleges to teach the state's youngest children.

 

Fifteen outstanding students from Atlanta and Gwinnett Technical Colleges and Georgia Piedmont Technical (formerly DeKalb Technical College) will receive scholarships toward bachelor's degrees and certification in the GSU College of Education's Birth Through Five Program.

 

The funding will also reach 10 local childcare centers that apply to participate as classrooms for this training program. The centers will represent metro Atlanta's diverse population. From 800 to 1,000 children and their current teachers are expected to benefit from the GSU training.

 

"Our goal is to build a pipeline of early care and learning professionals and a network of partner centers to improve the quality of early childhood education across the state," said Ruth Saxton of GSU's College of Education and the B-5 program coordinator.

 

National and state mandates dictate improvement in teacher quality and credentials, she pointed out, and universities must play a larger role in equipping those who teach Georgia's youngest students.

  

To read more about the grant work in the Birth Through Five Program, click here.