SLIPPERY ROCK — A new grant will benefit veterans, inner-city schools and two state universities.

Slippery Rock University and West Chester University in Chester County will collaborate in the statewide Troops to Teachers program, for which they have received a $272,000 grant.

Pedro Rivera, state Secretary of Education, on Thursday announced the grant.

“This funding provides a unique opportunity to Pennsylvanians: The ability to address the growing teachers shortage while leveraging partnerships and mentorships to place qualified educators in schools across the commonwealth,” Rivera said.

The program will see 25 to 50 postbaccalaureate veterans from across the state take four or five online summer classes toward their teaching certification that will be taught by faculty from both institutions.

The fast-track program will then see the veterans, with the help and guidance of their university mentors, spend two semesters in the classroom at Pittsburgh Public Schools or the Chester Upland School District as student teachers.

SRU spokesman Justin Zackal said the Troops to Teachers program lasts one year with more time spent in the classroom as opposed to traditional postbaccalaureate students, who spend three semesters to two years in a teaching certificate program and one semester in the classroom.

The veterans are limited to teaching certificates in mathematics and the sciences for grades seven to 12 and foreign languages in any grade.

The idea is to provide qualified teachers in subject shortage areas, utilize the leadership and problem-solving skills of veterans and increase the number of certified teachers in the state.

Zackal said the number of instructional teacher certificates issued by the state has dropped from 16,614 in 2012 to 1,715 in 2017.

“Everyone is going to benefit from this program,” said Monique Alexander, SRU assistant professor of elementary education and early childhood, who is serving as the grant director. “The universities and the veterans (benefit), but also the schools are going to be able to fill a need that they are really struggling with right now.”

Keith Dils, dean of SRU's College of Education, is excited about the program, which will launch in June.

“This is right in our wheelhouse in terms of our strengths,” Dils said. “We've had veterans come through our program before, but this would be tailoring the program for them via a yearlong residency and collaborating with another university using online courses.”

The grant would also help veterans with the certification process and access to technology like Visible Classroom, a tool that records a student teacher's classroom delivery and allows coaches to provide feedback.

The Troops to Teachers student teachers also would be visited in the classroom more often than traditional students.

“We're trying to immerse them in that supportive environment but also challenge them,” Dils said.

An SRU professor will screen program applicants and help them schedule classes to prepare them for their residency placement.

“These veterans will already have a bachelor's degree, so we would be polishing their content knowledge,” Dils said.

“We want to recruit the best and brightest who want to give back and take all that expertise, all that hard-earned, hard-won knowledge and leadership ability and have them become the next great generation of teachers.”