Applications for Fort Lewis College’s latest degree program, the master’s program in Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Education, opened Friday for fall 2018.
“We feel that it’s our responsibility to continue to develop our expertise and to think about how we can better serve these teachers, how we can better serve these communities,” Lorien Chambers Schuldt, assistant professor of Teacher Education, said in a news release issued this week by FLC.
The School of Teacher Education is in constant contact with educators and school districts to understand what programs would best serve educational professionals in the Four Corners. And that’s how FLC’s newest graduate program, a Master of Arts in Education: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education, came to be, Melissa Stordeur, graduate studies and outreach coordinator, said in the release.
The CLD program is designed for licensed teachers and other educational professionals who want their students to increase their academic achievement regardless of their heritage. Through the program, professionals will become experts in educational linguistics and culturally responsive strategies to help students who may speak another language. The courses will dive into language acquisition, multilingual teaching strategies, assessment and policy implications, and graduate-level research.
The program will also allow teachers to apply for a Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Endorsement through the state of Colorado or a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages endorsement in New Mexico.
Participants can also enroll in a truncated version of the program that leads to certification without earning a master’s degree.
The master’s program is not strictly for K-12 teachers.
“As we developed this new master’s program, we really opened it up to people beyond classroom teachers, people who are interested in language and literacy and culturally responsive instruction and supporting development,” Associate Professor of Teacher Education Chiara Cannella said. “Having a teaching credential is not a requirement for this program.”