School of Education Receives Major Grant to Benefit Mississippi Teachers

School of Education Dean Cindy Melton

Teachers will study at Mississippi College starting this summer to advance their online instruction and curriculum design skills.

MC’s School of Education leaders were recently awarded a $1.1 million GEER grant to make the classes possible. The grant provides tuition assistance for Mississippi teachers in K-12 classrooms for their first four classes. The tuition help goes to the first 125 students enrolling.

Teachers would “take what they’re learning from MC professors about best practices in virtual instruction and methodologies for designing online curriculum,” says education dean Cindy Melton.

The first four courses lead to an MC graduate certificate in online instruction and design. Teachers can also use these classes to seek a master's in online instruction and design at the Christian university.

The MC initiative helps teachers have a positive impact on K-12 growth statewide, Melton says.

Additional funding from the grant creates two faculty positions to support the program as well as training materials.

The program's classes will be offered in a traditional format on the Clinton campus and online.

“We are very excited to be the recipients of a GEER grant,” Melton said.

The new grant will prove beneficial to MC as well as teachers across the state, other leaders say.

“We are thankful that Mississippi has confidence in Mississippi College to equip teachers to meet the needs of students and move education forward,” says administrator Dr. Keith Elder.

“An award of this amount lays a foundation that will help MC continue to be a leader in education and collaborate throughout Mississippi,” adds Dr. Elder, the university’s provost and executive vice president.

GEER stands for Governor’s Emergency Education Response. In Fall 2020, the U.S. Department of Education awarded GEER funds to governors nationwide. Mississippi’s share was more than $34.6 million for the state’s most pressing emergency needs.

The GEER funds come from the federal CARES Act Education act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For nearly a year, many students from kindergartens through thousands of USA colleges received instruction via virtual classes to mitigate the spread of the virus.

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