Georgia State University’s College of Education & Human Development (CEHD) is expanding its teacher residency programs to rural districts in Georgia with its new Network for Urban and Rural Teachers United for Residency Engagement (NURTURE) Project.

“We are very excited to have a partner like Georgia State here in Baldwin County,” said Superintendent Dr. Noris Price. “We believe this residency program will help us with the recruitment of highly effective math, science and special education teachers to our school district.”

The college will partner with Middle Georgia State University, Fort Valley State University, one urban school district (Douglas County Schools) and eight rural school districts (Baldwin County Schools, Bibb County Schools, Bleckley County Schools, Dodge County Schools, Houston County Schools, Laurens County Schools, Peach County Schools and Pulaski County Schools) to increase the number of teachers committed to high-need schools in urban and rural settings.

Project NURTURE builds off the CEHD’s three previous teacher residency programs, which place students in classrooms for a full academic year, connect them with mentor teachers while in school and offer professional development and networking opportunities for the first two to three years after they graduate with a master’s degree in math, science or special education.

“Our Project NURTURE team is excited to have this opportunity to continue our teacher residency work with urban schools in metro Atlanta and especially excited about new partnerships with universities that serve rural school districts in middle Georgia,” said Gwen Benson, principal investigator and CEHD associate dean for faculty development and partnerships.

For this new project, the college will specifically encourage paraprofessionals — school employees who work with certified educators to provide classroom support — to apply and will incorporate a computer science endorsement into the master’s program curriculum.

“Our primary goal is to help increase the number of highly effective teachers who are committed to high-need schools in urban and rural communities,” Benson said, “and this funding will allow us to continue supporting them during the critical induction years.”

Project NURTURE is supported by a $7 million U.S. Department of Education grant.