Grant Will Fund Master’s Studies for 15 Educators


By Beverly Carroll
Friday, April 25, 2003
Chattanooga Times Free Press


Lifelong learner may sound like academic jargon, but for 15 Hamilton County teachers it means two years of work in a new master’s degree program designed for urban educators.

'I can never learn enough,' said 24-year veteran teacher Sharon Swafford, one of the 15 selected to participate in the program that was developed by educators at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Johns Hopkins University.

'I want to learn as much as I can as long as I can,' the Orchard Knob Elementary School teacher said.

The project is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Weldon F. Osborne Foundation, a local private group. The grant is administered by the Public Education Foundation, which raised an additional $500,000 for the program. The participants receive full tuition, according to Leslie Graitcer, Osborne Fellows coordinator.

'They will have monthly seminars and study groups in the schools with practical application,' Ms. Graitcer said. 'The program will cover literacy, the sociology of the student, parents and community, and classroom management.'

Theresa Ann Custer, a teacher at Clifton Hills Elementary School, said she is excited about the focus on urban teaching.

'This curriculum is designed for the children we teach at the schools where we teach,' Ms. Custer said.

Participants were selected from the nine Benwood Schools, inner-city elementary schools that share a $5 million, five-year grant from the Benwood Foundation to improve pupils’ reading skills. The teachers have taught at a Benwood School for two years and are committed to stay four years after completing the master’s program.

Clifton Hills Elementary School teacher Julie Wann said she doesn’t need an incentive to stay at her school.

'I knew when I did my student teaching there I wanted to teach there,' said Ms. Wann, who lives in Chickamauga, Ga. 'In Hamilton County, I am able to take advantage of a lot of professional development and incentives.'

PEF President Dan Challener said the participants are 'a network of extraordinary teachers who will work with each other to create knowledge.'

'That’s one of the aspects of a highly effective teacher, they are always reaching out to learn more,' Mr. Challener said.

The other participants include Susan Vaughn, Misty Hawkins and Andrea Weaver of Clifton Hills Elementary; Linda Ann Blazek, Rhonda Prince and Kathy Robertson of Hardy Elementary; Roxanne Beene and Mitzi McEachern of Calvin Donaldson Elementary; Lorelei Ward of Orchard Knob; Maria Flanagan of Howard Elementary; Kristi Bramlett of Hillcrest Elementary; and Patricia Clark of Eastside Elementary.