Contact: Alex Lyda;
alyda@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Nov. 9, 2021
(DALLAS) — Community members, philanthropists and Dallas College leaders gathered yesterday to announce the Dallas College School of Education’s new board of advisors, composed of experts who will play a critical role in teacher talent development in Dallas and beyond. The gathering also honored the first class of bachelor’s degree students to have entered Dallas College’s School of Education.
“Offering this bachelor’s degree to students who themselves someday want to become educators will make a big impact for generations to come,” said Dr. Joe May, chancellor of Dallas College and a key proponent of the new bachelor’s degree early on. “With guidance from the stellar advisory panel announced last night, the School of Education is poised to make a big impact on the region’s workforce."
The new advisory board consists of 15 members representing educational institutions and organizations across the country, all concerned with improving the future pipeline of qualified teachers and developing a workforce that will propel students to greater levels of success. Furthermore, as highlighted during the evening event at Dallas’ Museum Tower, Dallas College’s bachelor’s in education is lauded as the most affordable in-person program in Texas and one that will fast become the largest producer of educators, yielding 750-1,000 new teachers a year.
“Ensuring our future workforce is provided with the opportunity to learn from highly trained classroom educators right here in Dallas will ultimately help solidify the continued growth of our region,” said Dr. Robert DeHaas, vice provost of Dallas College School of Education. “And with the guidance of Dallas College’s advisory board consisting of the nation’s foremost experts in education and best pedagogical practices, our School of Education will bring the perspectives of a diverse team to inform a national model for educating future educators.”
The new board members, some of whom were in attendance, represent the following organizations: the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the College of Education at Boston University, TPI-US, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Texas Education Agency, the Center for Education Data and Research at the University of Washington, Texas Tech University, the Robins Foundation, Teach Plus, the Rainwater Foundation, the Commit Partnership, the Moody Foundation and The Meadows Foundation.
When the School of Education bachelor’s degree program admitted students this fall, it opened a new and exciting pathway to the teaching profession in Dallas County when the first cohort of students enrolled in the Bachelor of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education and Teaching (B.A.S. ECE) program entered upper-level courses. In two years, this cohort will be ready to enter the workforce as early childhood educators or as public school teachers credentialed with bachelor’s degrees that will also help them earn more in the workplace and advance to leadership positions.
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