LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A $1 million gift to the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development will be used to improve the quality of education and attract top-notch teachers to some of Louisville’s poorest neighborhoods.
The gift from the Mary K. Oxley Foundation targets two Jefferson County Public Schools — J.B. Atkinson Elementary and The Academy at Shawnee — and may later be expanded to other schools.
“This gift goes to the heart of our college’s vision by targeting at-risk students in our city’s urban schools,” said Blake Haselton, interim dean at UofL’s College of Education and Human Development.
Haselton said he believes the plan will become a model for other school districts and provides a big boost to the university’s Signature Partnership Initiative, a program launched in 2007 to improve the quality of life for residents in west Louisville.
Part of the gift will be used to recruit “high potential” teachers and provide those teachers with resources to pursue certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The certification, which takes from one to three years to achieve, shows that a teacher meets the highest standards for effective teaching.
In addition, the gift also funds: