Winthrop University will deliver services in 43 area schools in a multi-million dollar effort to improve teacher quality and student achievement in struggling schools.

Winthrop University recently received a 5- year, $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to implement a comprehensive teacher quality program. The college’s education department will partner with five area school districts — Cherokee, Chester, Lancaster, Fairfield and Union. The university will work with the school districts in areas such as recruiting and mentoring new teachers, offering professional development courses and working to boost student achievement in high-poverty schools.

Winthrop will select a few core school sites as the focus of the teacher quality program in each school district. Cherokee County Assistant Superintendent Dr. Linda Sellars said those schools will be selected over the next couple of months.

“We are looking forward to working with Winthrop,” Sellars said. “This is a comprehensive program which will really have an impact in providing professional development and improving teacher quality in area school districts.”

The teacher training initiative with Winthrop will be an ongoing partnership until the grant expires in September of 2014. Sellars said the school districts will share staff and teacher resources with Winthrop University.

Teachers, school officials and college students will form teams to study how to successfully deal with problems facing rural schools.

Students majoring in education will be involved in year-long internships working in schools. There will be a new focus on training teachers to work with students with disabilities and limited English speaking skills.

The Olde English Consortium education collaborative is working with Winthrop University to establish the partnership with school districts. Consortium director Mike Fanning estimates 8,000 teachers in the area will be impacted by the teacher quality research project.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to help prepare teachers and students for dealing with the challenges of working in small rural schools,” Fanning said.