PROVIDENCE – In a joint announcement Thursday, the R.I. Department of Education and the Providence Public School District said they will offer teachers reimbursement of up to $3,200 in educational expenses for enrolling in an English as a Second Language certification or master’s degree program next school year.
Up to 125 teachers will be served in the program, according to a statement, and the initiative will aid PPSD’s efforts to comply with an agreement the district has with the U.S. Department of Justice that it must increase its number of ESL-certified teachers. The University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University and the Rhode Island School for Progressive Education, which all offer ESL certification programs, as well as both RIC and URI offering master’s degree programs, are “committed” to having enough seats for teachers to be enrolled in the program.
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Currently, there are 433 ESL-certified teachers in Providence and one-third of the total student population districtwide requires ESL supports, the release states.
“Providence simply does not have enough ESL-certified teachers. But in my conversations with teachers, I hear the same thing, and many of our teachers are hungry to acquire those skills,” said R.I. Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green in a statement. “Thanks to the support of our partners in higher education, the cooperation of our teachers, and a collective commitment to deliver better instruction to multilingual learners, we are going to invest in our workforce and better support our students for years to come.”
The release also notes the district identified about 80 elementary school teaching positions that will transition from general education to ESL-certified training positions in the fall. Next month, those impacted teachers will be asked to commit to the ESL certification process and apply for either an “expert residency certification or an emergency certification.”
If any of the identified teachers choose not to enroll in an ESL certification program, they may be “displaced” from their current positions next year, the release states. Displaced teachers will be then be assigned to “open positions” within PPSD before the next school year commences. If there are not enough open positions available or if the displaced teachers don’t have the necessary credentials to fill those positions, some teachers “may face layoffs.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com.
