LA GRANDE — Two teacher preparation programs at Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, received more than half a million dollars from state grants that will expand collaboration and responsive teaching practices in rural Oregon.

EOU in a press release announced the Educator Advancement Panel and Oregon Department of Education awarded grants to two EOU programs — one that already is successful and one that is new.

The Oregon Teacher Pathway program received $350,000 from the Educator Advancement Panel’s Grow Your Own/Teacher Pathways grant.

Tawnya Lubbes, Pathway program director and education professor, said in the press release the new funds will improve opportunities for professional development and increase stipends for high school teachers who introduce teens to a career in education. The grant also will support data analysis and collection to evaluate the program, connect first- and second-year teachers with grants and provide multicultural libraries for their classrooms.

OTP began in 2014, according to EOU’s announcement, and has allowed more than 250 high school students to explore a career in teaching while being mentored by Eastern U students. High schoolers who matriculate from the program to EOU can earn tuition reductions and serve as mentors themselves. More than a dozen graduates of the program are teaching in regional classrooms.

Educator Advancement Panel reported it received 27 grant applications and has awarded 26 so far for a total amount of $6.8 million.

Additionally, EOU reported its Teach Rural Oregon and the Eastern Oregon Teaching Academy received $200,000 in partnership with the Wallowa Educational Service District.

Education professor Dave Dallas founded the two programs to open the door for community college students, paraprofessionals and other individuals to become teachers in rural areas of the state as well as provide professional development opportunities for teachers in underserved rural schools.

Grant funding will provide an opportunity for community college students from Gresham to visit rural Eastern Oregon for three weeks in May to observe classrooms and converse with and learn from rural colleagues. A student board, crisis intervention for teachers, access to EOU faculty and stipends for guest speakers also are part of the vision for the teaching academy. Ultimately, according to Dallas, the program aims to recruit more teachers to the rural areas of Oregon.

Eastern also reported the Oregon Teacher Pathway program qualified to apply for an additional $100,000 grant through the Meyer Foundation.

You can learn more about the Oregon Teacher Pathway at eou.edu/otp and Teach Rural Oregon and the Eastern Oregon Teacher Academy at eou.edu/teach-rural-oregon.