Collin County Community College took the lead role in Texas when they announced plans to become the first community college to offer a teacher certification program. "Community colleges have long been recognized as one of the best resources for workforce development. It is only logical that they step forward to play a key role in teacher preparation," said Cary A. Israel, CCCC President.

The college is focusing on preparing experienced workers for careers as middle and high school technology teachers. "The teacher shortage in Texas and across the nation is approaching a crisis, and one of the answers is this kind of creative thinking. If we do not teach our young people about technology and its applications, they will not have the ability and the interest to become high technology teachers and workers," says Sam Roach, chair of the CCCCD Board of Trustees.

Classes will be held at the Center for Teaching, Learning and Professional Development at the CCCCD@ALLEN instructional site. The Teacher Certification Program Board, which will oversee the program will be comprised of CCCC and 11 public school districts, including Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Plano, and Wylie.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded three grants totaling more than $715,000 to Texas Women’s University faculty member and professor Dr. Rudy Rodriguez.

One grant is for a Bilingual Teacher Assistants Program designed to produce qualified bilingual education teachers to serve language-minority children in grades one through eight. Another grant is an Advanced Preparation Project for Beginning Teachers and Mentors designed to provide graduate-level professional development for beginning and mentor teachers in bilingual education. The third grant is for a career ladder training program designed to produce qualified bilingual education teachers to serve the growing number of limited-English-proficient children in Dallas elementary schools.

All three grants are in partnership with various local organizations, including the Dallas/Fort Worth Bilingual Educator Association of the Metroplex, the Dallas Public Schools, Brookhaven Community College, Fort Worth ISD, and Tarrant County Community College.

UT Southwestern is the third school in Texas, and the first school in the UT System, to receive accreditation from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to convert their physician assistant studies program from a bachelor’s level to a master’s level curriculum next summer. The first class of master’s students will graduate in 2003.

According to Dr. Gene Jones, chairman of this program at UT Southwestern, "The new program will better prepare students for a competitive marketplace. We designed the new curriculum to reflect the rapidly changing health-care environment." The master’s curriculum will now include advanced courses such as medical Spanish, managed-care and professional-practice issues, medical jurisprudence, coding and billing, and medical ethics.