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SIRG Project Outcomes -
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Transformation Special Interest Research Groups (SIRGs)
The College of Education and P-16 Integration was awarded a grant funded by the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity (BranchED) to be part of the first cohort of the National Teacher Preparation Transformation Center. The transformation work was a 3-year commitment that focused on 3 areas of emphasis:
- Practice-based teacher preparation
- Culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies
- Technology integration for 21st century skills
As part of our institutional transformation plan, we sent out a call for proposals to our faculty for Teacher Preparation Transformation Special Interest Research Groups (Transformation SIRGs).
The goal of this initiative was to support teams of faculty in conducting research projects that would further explore any of the three areas of emphasis listed above or any of the four quality transformation objectives:
- Quality Objective A: Programming builds teacher candidate competency to meet the needs of students
- Quality Objective B: Program demonstrates commitment to using data for continuous improvement
- Quality Objective C: Program ensures teacher educators are effective
- Quality Objective D: Programming is responsive to K-12 school systems and the communities they serve.
The goal of the Transformation SIRG Initiative was to answer important questions to help guide the next steps in the transformation of our teacher preparation program to ultimately provide the best possible teachers for the students of the Rio Grande Valley.
Using the overarching question, how are we transforming teacher preparation in the Rio Grande Valley as a guide, three (3) research teams developed a focus for in-depth exploration:
Exploring how Positive Psychology Characteristics Influence Bilingual/EDSL Teacher Candidates’ Mental Health and Testing Performance
Dr. Javier Cavazos, Dr. Zulmaris Diaz, Dr. Federico Guerra, Jr.
Investigating Hispanic Service College of Education Pre-service Teachers’ Perception of Effective Technology Integration in the Classroom (ETIC)
Dr. Pierre Lu, Dr. Jair Aguilar, Dr. Noushin Nouri
Creating a Teacher Candidate Learning Community for Mentoring Latino/a Freshmen in a HIS
Dr. Criselda Garcia, Dr. Karin Lewis, Dr. Miryam Espinosa-Dulanto, Dr. Eunice Lerma
Access each of the photovoice presentations at the SIRGs Project.