The U.S Department of Education awarded the Early Education program a $2.5 million grant for students becoming bilingual language learn- ing teachers. The project, Lasell’s Language Acquisition for Stimulating English Repartee Scholar (LASER), will provide full scholarships for five LASERS students who will earn a master’s degree of education in education and a graduate certificate in bilingual special education at Lasell.
The goal of the LASER program is to train early education majors to meet the needs of bilingual students with academic challenges in Massachusetts. According to Lasell’s website, “LASERS Scholars will collaboratively engage to address equity for this population as they complete courses, exchange ideas, design lesson plans and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and acquire best practices.”
The university was one of 44 colleges around the country to receive the grant. Education Program chair and Professor Claudia Rinaldi will serve as the principal investigator for the grant. Rinaldi has previously received grants for the education program to support students of color who are obtaining bachelor’s degrees in education.