PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Recently, Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) was selected for an approximately $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education.

The grant aims to increase career and technical education teacher certifications, preparation and support.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Education announced this new grant opportunity to address state and local shortages of high school career and technical education teachers.

The new initiative is intended to improve career and technical education programs by increasing the number of high school teachers in communities where shortages exist.

From 32 applications submitted, BCPS was chosen as one of five recipients for the grant, which will be funded over a threeyear period.

“To ensure that our students are equipped with the skills and knowledge for future success, we must provide all students access to highly effective educators, including in our career and technical education classrooms,” said BCPS Superintendent Robert W. Runcie. “This grant will help us provide more students with access to high-quality teachers in fields that are aligned with local workforce needs.”

The grant funding also supports the District’s Career Technical, Adult and Community Education Department’s Broward Education Superior Technology Teachers (BESTT) program, which focuses on improving recruitment, training and retention of effective high school career and technical education teachers.

An area of emphasis for BESTT is computer science and information technology. The District has partnered with Broward College, CareerSource Broward, Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance and CODE.org to carry out work and implement the project.

The BESTT program will offer BCPS noncareer and technical education teachers the chance to become computer science and information technology certified teachers through the completion of courses at Broward College, and recruit and prepare industry professionals to become career and technical education teachers.

Current career and technical education teachers have the opportunity to advance their knowledge and expand their certification expertise into the high demand fields of technology certification.