York College Awarded Nearly $1M from Gov. Hochul To Support Teacher Education Program

JAMAICA, Queens -- CUNY's York College's Department of Teacher Education has been awarded almost $1 million through Gov. Kathy Hochul's Paraprofessional Upskilling Program to transition paraprofessionals in Bilingual and English as a New Language classrooms into fully certified teachers in those fields.

This program will address the critical teacher shortage area for York's partner districts to meet the needs of multilingual P-12 students in their schools. The school district partners for this program include New York City Public Schools, especially District 29 and the Queens South High Schools, and the Valley Stream Central High School District. This partnership and program will support York Department of Teacher Educations' motto: "Transforming students from the community into teachers for the community." 

Participating paraprofessionals will receive scholarships and stipends, mentoring, and programs tailored to their developing expertise as educators.

Dr. Leslie Keiler, chair of the Department of Teacher Education, claims: "Through this program York will be able to contribute to the success of our partner districts as they maximize the learning and development of their multilingual learners in P-12 classrooms. We are excited about working with multilingual paraprofessionals to ensure that they are fully supported in their evolution into teachers in their own classrooms, growing as both educators and role models for their multilingual students."

Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday that $13.7 million in Workforce Development Awards has been allocated to 12 New York colleges and universities as part of the Education Workforce Investment. Eight grants totaling $9.5 million were awarded under the Alternative Teacher Certification Program, and four grants totaling $4.2 million were awarded under the Upskilling Paraprofessionals Program.

“We have a responsibility to ensure our future teachers and paraprofessionals are ready to educate and support the next generation of New Yorkers,” Governor Hochul said in a media release. “Through this funding for workforce development programs, we are investing in our educators and creating pathways for our students to pursue a career in the education field.”

In addition to York College, awardees for the Upskilling Paraprofessionals include Medgar Evers College, SUNY Cortland and Empire State University. Awardees for the Alternative Teacher Certification Program are Brooklyn College, Hunter College, Adelphi University, Bank Street Graduate School of Education, SUNY Cortland, Fordham University, Manhattanville College and Utica College.

The grant funding will support projects over the next four years.