WEB-BASED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATORS

Alabama Public Television is leading a multi-state collaborative effort to provide high-quality online staff development programs for educators. Originally eight state departments of education and their respective public broadcast station partners joined together in this ground-breaking partnership to address the critical needs for accessible professional development opportunities. In 2008 two additional states joined the effort. To date, more than 25,000 teachers have taken one or more eLearning for Educators courses. Based on project data about teacher/student ratios, an estimated 1 million children may have been impacted.

In Fall 2009, the results of a ground-breaking randomized, longitudinal research study will be available. The research studies conducted by the project are the largest of their kind to date.

e-Learning for Educators is funded by a Ready to Teach grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Participating states and organizations are: Alabama, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Boston College and Education Development Center (EDC) are providing technical assistance, consultation, and evaluation. Alabama Public Television is administering the grant.

For more information about the eight-state initiative, please contact Lynne Meeks at
1-800-239-5233 or via e-mail at lmeeks@aptv.org.