The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Norfolk State University with a $1.1 million grant for education majors. The grant, which runs through 2020, will support 140 pre-service teacher education candidates and will be administered through the School of Education. According to Dr. Leon Rouson, associate professor and the principal investigator, the grant will provide participants with mentoring and tutoring, but will also equip them with financial literacy and test-taking skills as well as pay for their professional tests and organization fees. The end result, said Rouson, is to produce very highly-qualified teachers.

The grant provides roughly $220,000 a year over the five-year period and is a continuation of a $1 million grant funded in 2010. In addition, the School of Education has seen an increase in the test scores of those who have participated in the program. Recently, the school achieved a 100 percent pass rate for participants on teacher licensure tests. “This project,” said Dr. Denise M. Littleton, dean of the School of Education, “provides a wonderful service to our students.”