The U.S. Department of Education awarded the Curry School of Education's National Research Center on the Gifted & Talented over $1 million yesterday for their new project, which will benefit bright students in poor regions of the country.
Project "LOGgED On," Learning Opportunities for the Gifted Economically Disadvantaged Online, will set up an interactive distance learning environment for rural and poor urban-area high schools across the country. With LOGgED On's classroom setup, which will include video, audio and online equipment, students will have access to teachers and resources from remote locations.
University alumnus and Virginia Sen. George Allen lobbied for the Jacob Javitz Act, which provided federal money for various educational programs, including LOGgED On and another program at the College of William & Mary.
Carrie Cantrell, a spokeswoman in Allen's office said the senator is very supportive of any technology-based programs for education that "bridge the economic divide between students."
The project is one of 10 independent educational programs that received grant money yesterday from the U.S. Department of Education.
Education School graduate students and technology staffers, along with five Education School faculty members, will train teachers for the project in Charlottesville.
LOGgED On Co-director Mary Lundrum said one advantage of the project is its ability to give gifted students in poorer areas the same opportunities available to gifted students in more affluent areas.
"The project's strength is in its brand-new technology and its unique ability to help students who otherwise wouldn't have this available due to economic or geographic reasons," Lundrum said. "In the next five years, we hope to reach 500 students in grades 6 through 12, span 20 states and have 400 teachers trained in order to keep the program running."
Catherine Callahan, the project's other co-director and director of the National Research Center on Gifted Education, also praised the project.
"First of all, the students who will be served wouldn't normally have had these opportunities," Callahan said. "And secondly, this project gives the University a stronger national presence in the classroom, and also an opportunity to do research on how effective this type of technology-based learning actually is."
Callahan said she hopes to have the project up and running within the next year.
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