NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A new, free Vanderbilt University master's program is being created specifically for teachers who agree to teach in urban Metro schools for three years.

Video: Vandy, MNPS Partner For Free Master's Program

Vanderbilt and Metro Nashville Public Schools announced the partnership Monday.

The master's program, called Master’s in Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools, will focus on literacy, mathematics or science for those preparing to teach upper-level elementary school grades through eighth grade.

The program will begin for a student the summer before he or she, who has already received teacher certification, begins teaching in Metro. The student will begin teaching that fall at a participatory MNPS school while completing 30 hours of coursework within two years.

Twenty-four students will enroll in the program starting in the summer of 2010.

"This program will serve multiple purposes," MNPS Director of Schools Jesse Register said in a news release Monday. "It will provide top training to our teachers, which will directly impact classroom instruction, and it will assist in our recruitment of the country’s most talented and promising young teachers."

Interested applicants can contact the Peabody College Office of Graduate Admissions at 615-322-8410 or visit Peabody College's Web site.