Rationale
As students become more linguistically diverse, teachers need to know how to teach content, and the language needed to understand the content. In response, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is collaborating with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to submit Project TLC: Preparing Teachers of Language and Content. *Project TLC* prepares teachers of hard-to-staff content areas, who are also equipped to meet the needs of English learners (ELs). *Project TLC* involves three cohorts of 12 teacher candidates (36 total) who complete customized curriculum and professional development in the UNC Charlotte residency program leading to dual licensure in a hard-to-staff subject and K-12 English as a second language (ESL). Participating candidates will be hired at high-need schools with large numbers of ELs, but few teachers who are prepared to work with them, and will receive two years of induction support from a trained coach. *Project TLC* has three goals:
- increase educator diversity in hard-to-staff subjects in high-need schools;
- improve the preparation of teacher candidates to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of ELs; and
- retain diverse educators in hard-to-staff subjects in high-need schools.