Assistant Professor of Education Dr. Nan Li has received the Exemplary Service to the Teaching Profession Award from the South Carolina Association of Teacher Educators (SCATE).
“I was very surprised. I did not expect that,” she said. “It feels really good to be honored by your peers.”
SCATE, a leadership and professional organization for pre-service, graduate and active teachers in the state, awarded Li for her “unique or extraordinary accomplishments in education; active leadership in education at the local, state and national level; focused public attention on the need for improvement and better support for education.”
Li is nationally acknowledged in education for her work with English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students. This fall, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Claflin University a $289,645 grant to continue and expand a program Li chartered to improve the professional development of teachers instructing Hispanic students who don’t speak as their first language.
Her National Professional Development (NPD) program previously received a five-year, $1 million from the USDOE. Thus far, Li’s NPD program has received rave reviews from local school officials and student teachers. Participating children have shown remarkably improvement in their English reading and writing abilities. The latest award – potentially worth nearly $1.5 million in grant funding – will afford Claflin the opportunity to annually train both 24 students and 24 current teachers best practices to instruct ESOL students. Read Full Article at Caflin
