Plumtree
Plumtree, NC · Education
WBTV
Ashe Post & Times
$10M grant expands App State model for teacher-directed professional learning
BOONE — Appalachian State University’s Office of Rural Promise (ORP) has secured a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to launch ETL SPARK (Empowering Teacher Learning: Strengthening Professional learning to Advance Reading Knowledge). App State will partner with school districts across North Carolina as part of the five-year research initiative to study how teacher-directed professional learning in middle grades literacy can elevate classroom instruction and empower educators. North Carolina has made major investments in elementary literacy, but ongoing, individualized professional development for middle grades literacy remains limited, leaving little room for autonomy or responsiveness to local contexts, explained Dr. James Beeler, executive director of the Office of Rural Promise. ETL SPARK aims to address these gaps by: Strengthening middle grades literacy instruction through teacher‑directed professional learningIncreasing relevance and autonomy in professional learningSupporting teacher retention by building confidence, competence and community The program builds on ORP’s recently completed Empowering Teacher Learning (ETL) model, a five-year, $12 million federally funded project launched in 2021 in middle schools across Western North Carolina. Focused on teacher-directed, competency-based professional learning, the ETL model demonstrated that this approach can strengthen instructional quality, create clearer pathways for educators to earn microcredentials and support teacher