The Thurgood Marshall Foundation and University of Phoenix are forming a partnership with Florida A&M University’s Developmental Research School. The plan calls for the creation of online curricula for teachers and students. FAMU DRS teachers will get instruction in creating online classes. Superintendent Patricia Hodge says black students haven’t been as successful as others when it comes to online learning and the goal is to change that.
“In learning and developing teaching strategies that work for African American students and poor students that haven’t been as successful, and bilingual students who haven’t been as successful, we hope as we develop those strategies we can roll them out to teachers across the county," she said.
Thurgood Marshall Foundation President and CEO Johnny Taylor, Jr. says he was inspired to create the program after being told, "African American students can't learn online". Taylor says he wants to disprove that assumption.
Hodge wants to use the lessons created through the partnership to enhance teaching in the classroom. Results from the state’s new exam show FAMU DRS students struggled in math.
