UCLA receives part of a $9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education

UCLA received a portion of a $9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education on April 1, providing funds to boost the quality of education through research into increased teaching resources and curriculum preparation.

Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $9 million Teacher Quality Partnership grant will be split between UCLA, Stanford University, the Iowa Department of Education and the University of Northern Iowa.

The grant is part of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s plan to engage student learners and bring innovation into university education through technology and more-compelling teaching methods, according to a statement from the Department of Education.

Grant partners will engage in such methods as creating an electronic portfolio to gauge the progress of a instructor’s teaching over time and examining the correlation between student learning and various lesson plans. This information will aid the schools in determining the most-effective means of educating students.

UCLA’s funding portion will benefit the university’s National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing, which is part of UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. The Center aims to measure and develop evaluation and testing techniques through scientifically based methods such as the incorporation of multimedia and detailed statistical data, according to the organization’s Web site.

This is not the first time UCLA has received this grant.

In October, UCLA received an additional Teacher Quality Partnership grant, this time benefiting Center X, which works to improve public schooling and is part of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

The funds went toward a new program called IMPACT, or Inspiring Minds Through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers, said Jody Priselac, executive director of Center X.

This project is a partnership between the Los Angeles Unified School District, Center X and the Los Angeles Small Schools Center, which provides leadership for small public schools to create an innovative approach to recruiting and sustaining teachers in Los Angeles, Priselac said.

The program is currently in the planning stages, but once enacted, it will combine classroom theories with real-world training in Los Angeles schools and teacher-mentors, she said.

“Keeping teachers in the profession is really important,” Priselac said.