VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY, VA—Virginia State University has announced an innovative new program which will use grant funds to offer free tuition to graduate students who serve as full time substitute teachers in the Richmond and Petersburg school system.
In the new residency program, students will earn a Master of Education within one year, while gaining real-world experience in a classroom under the supervision of a master teacher. Once the student earns the degree, they must commit to a full-time teaching position with their residency school division for an additional 3-years.
The initiative is funded through the first ever “I Too Teach” Grant for HBCUs from the Virginia Department of Education. The primary goal of the program is to increase the number of highly qualified teachers of color—particularly males of color. In addition to addressing the critical teacher shortage in Richmond and Petersburg—the program will provide Pre K-12 classrooms with culturally and linguistically diverse teachers.
During the residency, VSU students will work nights and weekends on their Master of Education Degree in Elementary Education (Pre K-6) or in General Curriculum for Special Education (K-12). Teacher residency candidates must hold a current bachelor’s degree and have a desire to teach in schools with a more than 30 percent poverty rate.
VSU is accepting applications for the VSU College of Education’s no-cost “I Too Teach” Master of Education program.
