IBM initiative to improve teacher training

A $15 million grant program from IBM is intended to help improve the quality of teacher training for U.S. public school teachers. The new grant program is part of IBM's Reinventing Education Initiative that currently serves 65,000 teachers and six million students. The new program brings the company's

According to IBM, the new grants pave the way for teachers at 27 leading schools of education in nine states to receive training and professional development to assist the states in meeting the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. The goals are to bring innovative technologies into schools of education and build connections between teacher education programs and the schools they serve.

"It's obvious that the schools have little chance of achieving at world-class levels if we can't equip and sustain a world-class teaching force," says IBM President and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano. "This initiative will help our students by helping their teachers-with better training, professional development and technology deployment for the people we're asking to lead in every classroom."

Each of the nine Reinventing Education grant teams-the urban school district and/or state education department, plus one or more colleges of education-will receive approximately $1.5 million in resources from IBM in the form of research and technical expertise, technology and cash. The grantees in each state-including teachers in training, college faculty, classroom teachers and school administrators-will work together in creating methods of continuous teacher training. The grant recipients will be provided with a web-based instructional platform called Riverdeep Learning Village, which was developed by IBM researchers and teachers.

For more information, visit www.ibm.com.