The Delta Regional Educator's Academy (DREAM) was established to help provide quality professional development for pre-K throught 12th grade educators in Northeast Louisiana. Its goal is to foster the development of highly-qualified educators by the pedagogically-appropriate delivery of content-rich professional development programs designed to meet the needs of individual systems or schools.

Why DREAM Formed

On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). NCLB mandates that states create their own standards for what students should know, test student progress toward those standards, and have all students performing at a proficient level within twelve years. To do this, highly-qualified teachers are necessary. According to the U.S. Dept. of Education, such a teacher knows what to teach, how to teach, and has command of the subject matter being taught. Accountability for results is stressed under NCLB and is shared throughout the education system. ULM formed DREAM to provide services to and develop partnerships with fellow members of this system so that it contributes to the goals of NCLB in as many ways as possible.