ATLANTA — The Southern Regional Education Board will use a new $320,000 grant from the AT&T Foundation to help its member states improve training and boost the supply of high-quality online teachers in K-12 schools.
SREB states already lead the nation in providing state virtual (online) schools and in the number of middle grades and high school students successfully completing online courses — more than 150,000 during the 2006-2007 school year.
With the increase in online learning expected to continue, all SREB state virtual schools and their state departments of education are participating in the SREB High-Quality Online Teachers initiative, led by SREB’s Educational Technology Cooperative.
The one-year effort builds on the SREB report Standards for Quality Online Teachers, which established the region’s first specific quality standards for online teachers with input from the states. The new initiative now will help SREB states implement those standards as they share best practices, hire, train and evaluate the success of online teachers.
"This initiative is an excellent opportunity to work with and learn from the very best online teachers from SREB states about what is important in training new online teachers, what kind of professional development needs to be in place and what resources they need to do their jobs effectively," said Bill Thomas, director of the Cooperative.
Over the next 12 months, SREB will create a comprehensive professional development program to train and support online instructors. Working with state virtual schools and their state education agencies, SREB will launch a new Web site to give online teachers instant access to the latest training and learning resources and will design the region’s first formal incentive and recognition program to reward high-quality online teachers.
In addition, a first-of-its-kind "social networking" Web site for SREB state virtual schools will enable both new and experienced online teachers to share information, support and guide other online teachers.
SREB has a longstanding commitment to quality online teaching to give students access to the academic courses they need, regardless of where they reside. For more than a decade, the SREB Educational Technology Cooperative has worked with and supported SREB states as they create state virtual schools to provide quality teachers and courses to middle grades and high school students across the region.
For more information on the work of SREB’s Educational Technology Cooperative and the expansion of state virtual schools, contact SREB Communications.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
