The Federal Education Department has sharply put an end to a grant from the University of Wisconsin-Medison, who pays students to train as special education teachers in classrooms in Milwaukee public schools.
The termination of the $ 3.3 million grant was one of about $ 600 million grants shortened across the country this month by the US Education Division. The department stated that the grants were used to train teachers in “separation ideologies” as a critical theory of race; diversity, justice and inclusion; Activism of social justice and white supremacy.
Kristin Dupont Works with 4th Through 7th Grade Students in a Special Education Class at Grantosa Drive School, a Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade School at North 82nd in M. 30, 2022. Last Spring, Dozens of Staff Members Reported Problems at the school, including chaos in classrooms and halls; Long or without learning, physical attacks against teachers and other children and no consequences for poor behavior.
UW-Madison’s special education professor Kimber Wilkerson said the program did not focus on DEI. She said the university has thrown a wide network to recruit participants in the program and does not focus on people with a certain identity. The program aims to compensate for the shortage of teachers for special education in the largest area in the country where one in five students has a disability.
“In fact, it seems to me to do all this preparatory work and then not to realize the benefits of this, especially before a student has graduated,” she said. “It is believed that disturbing that the Ministry of Education will be reformed in such a way that it now acts in ways that I think are actually undermining the success of the students.”
The grant covered live scholarships for 36 students who would work as special education teachers, along with experienced mentors, while earning their master’s degrees in special education. In return, students were committed to working as a special education teachers at a school for MPs for three years after graduation.
Wilkerson said he was notified of the grant’s termination in an email from 21:41, sent on February 12th. The termination came into force earlier the same day. The Wisconsin public radio first announced the termination of grant.
Wilkerson and another Professor Beverly Trezzk led the project together after providing the grant in 2023. The first group of 10 students started the 14-month program last summer. Another 14 were planned to start this summer, with seven students already accepted.
UW-Madison provided funding elsewhere to cover the last five months of the program for the first group. But Wilkerson said he was now struggling to find funding for the second group.
“I don’t know how long they will wait before they just decide to do something else,” she said.
Scholarships are a key part of the program. Students take full load of classes in addition to working in the classroom. They are unlikely to have time to work part -time, which can cover the rent and other living costs.
Students earn a fellow of at least $ 55,335, a little less than what a master in a special education teacher would do first in the field.
Students’ education was not affected by the termination of Grant, as it was covered by a bet on a donor -funded program.
Although UW-Madison finds funding to cover students’ scholarships, at least another part of the program is lost, Wilkerson said. The grant covered the salary of a program coordinator who provided support to students and mentors. This man was moved to a different project so that they did not lose their jobs.
UW-Madison is in the process of appealing the termination of grant. Wilkerson said it was not clear how quickly the department would respond to the appeals.
The deputies did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the termination of Grant, but previously called the teacher preparation programs that include residence or mentoring for an extended period of time, the “gold standard”.
“Milwaukee has many challenges like an area,” Wilkerson said. “I have the feeling that giving them resources is the right thing, not to take away resources from programs that we have already agreed about.”
Kelly Meyerhofer covers higher education in Wisconsin. Contact it at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow it in the X (Twitter) of @Kellymeyerhofer.
This article originally appeared at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump Administration cuts the University of Wisconsin Grant for teacher training