The
Language
Advocacy Project (LAP)
is sponsored by the Department
of Educational Theory and Practice at the University at Albany
and the Office of
Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs at the
U.S. Department of Education.
The
goal for the project is to provide training that will enable
pre-service and in-service participants to 1) most effectively
serve the needs of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students,
their parents, their mainstream teachers and school
administrators, and 2) thoughtfully and effectively orchestrate
and provide instruction around media and technology.
Successful
pre-service participants receive a Master of Science degree in
TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and New
York State Certificate in TESOL. In-service participants receive
University credits while gaining insight to the most recent
developments in the field and sharpening their expertise in
serving this population.
The
innovative elements of the program include a Limited English
Proficiency Advocacy component and an Instructional Media
component. Based on a systematic training network cooperatively
devised by four local school districts (Albany, Amsterdam,
Schenectady, and Troy), the New York State Education Department,
and a Project Advisory Committee, the Project responds in
significant ways to the major themes underlying the Improving
America's Schools Act and Goals 2000.