Enhanced Peer Coaching Program grants announced
263 teachers each to receive $9,000 to integrate technology into classrooms

OLYMPIA — April 14, 2009 — A total of 263 teachers have each been awarded $9,000 grants this year for professional development that will train them to become peer coaches. The program is designed to develop each educator’s mentoring skills as they learn to integrate technology into standards-based curricula.

Grant recipients for the 2009-11 Enhanced Peer Coaching Program were announced today by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Each teacher will receive $9,000, which will cover a 10-session training program and related costs, such as substitute teachers and new technology for their classrooms.

When finished with the program, the teachers will return to their schools as peer coaches who can share powerful new instructional techniques that use technology to engage and motivate students.

Last year, 97 teachers won grants.

"The thing I appreciate about the peer coaching program is its efficiency," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn said. “One teacher gets trained, then goes back to his or her school and trains other teachers. It’s a way to get the most we can out of the federal money, and it will help the most number of students.”

Back in their schools, peer coaches work closely with staff to improve instructional practice and identify ways to use technology to strengthen classroom curriculum and improve academic achievement. As one coach said, “I think about my own lessons more and how to use technology to meet my instructional needs instead of just using technology for technology sake.”

Eligibility for the grants depends primarily on district location and demographics. The most important factor is that districts must have higher percentages than the state average of families with incomes lower than the poverty line. Other factors include whether schools in the district have been identified for improvement or have not met Adequate Yearly Progress (the accountability portion of the federal No Child Left Behind act) or have a substantial need for assistance with the use and purchase of technology.

"Through the program, peer coaches join a supportive, evolving community of learners and practitioners," said Dennis Small, OSPI Educational Technology Director. "They connect as equals in a dialogue that covers shared experience, reflection, new understanding, and the adoption of tools for a new kind of learning environment – a powerful way to try, refine and implement – as social learners."

This is the third year of the grants in Washington. They are funded through the Enhancing Education Through Technology program, a component of Title II, Part D of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. (ESEA, originally passed in 1965, was re-authorized in 2002 by the No Child Left Behind Act.)

View the complete list of grant recipients, including their districts and schools.