Southeast gets grant to make curriculum for at-risk students

Southeast Missouri State University has been awarded a three-year grant for the "Children at Risk in Education" or CARE program to develop a curriculum for student teachers to work with children at risk of failing in school.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded the $204,585 grant. With the grant money, a consortium of six universities -- three in the United States and three in Europe -- will develop the curriculum, said Dr. Jean Benton, project director and associate professor of elementary, early and special education at Southeast.

CARE consortium partners in the United States include Southeast, which is the lead school, Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina and the University of Central Florida. European partners are Stranmillis University College, Queens University in the United Kingdom; Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen in the Netherlands and the University of Leon in Spain.

The grant is one of the most prestigious in the nation, said Dr. Shirley Stennis-Williams, dean of Southeast's College of Education, which is coordinating the grant effort.

As part of the project, 54 students will travel abroad, half from the United States and half from Europe.

Benton said it's an opportunity for third-year Southeast students majoring in education to spend time in classrooms overseas. "While we have been sending student teachers abroad since 1986, this is the first time that our third-year students will be able to engage in practicum experiences abroad where they will be placed in Dutch, Northern Irish and Spanish classrooms," she said.

The project also involves development of a Web site to create a virtual classroom for the 54 students to participate in managed Web forums.

The Web site will also include information on the best practices in educating underachieving children, Benton said.