A consortium of the New York State Department of Education, UB's Graduate School of Education (GSE), Columbia University Teachers' College and Syracuse University has received a three-year, $495,000 catalyst grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The grant was awarded by the U.S. DOE initiative titled "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology"-"PT3" for short-to develop a model that can be used by the state Department of Education to infuse technology instruction into teacher-education programs.

The PT3 initiative typically funds projects that fuel and sustain efforts to guide teacher learning in the areas of education technology and information studies.

The grant will fund efforts with urban schools within the consortium's purview-Buffalo, Yonkers, Syracuse and two New York City school districts-to prepare, attract and keep new teachers by ensuring that they are able use technology in the teaching-and-learning process and for classroom management.

The consortium will collect data through surveys, interviews and focus groups, and use it to develop a model for pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development for new teachers. Once the model is prepared, UB may consider a pilot implementation program.

Thomas Frantz, associate professor and interim dean of the GSE, says it is a principle mission of the school to assist community schools in implementing the finest educational technologies.

He notes that such assistance, along with teacher-education and urban-education initiatives, are the three themes embraced by PT3.

The GSE already offers a variety of programs and other opportunities that encourage prospective and graduate teachers to take advantage of educational technologies.

Suzanne Miller, GSE associate dean, points to the school's considerable experience in the development of field-, Web- and classroom-tested technology-infusion programs. The school has a staff dedicated to developing and refining new educational technologies and two applied research centers devoted to the study and application of technology in the classroom.

Miller says this puts the GSE in an excellent position to work with other graduate schools of education to produce a solid, workable model for use throughout the state.

Frantz notes among the entities within the school devoted to educational technology issues are the Teacher Education Institute, the Center for the Study of Technology in Education and the Center for Advancement of Technology in Education (CATE).