UNC Greensboro will use a federal grant to attract and place new teachers in two rural North Carolina counties. The goal is to bring digital-age problem solving into the high-poverty school districts.

UNCG’s School of Education received a five-year, $6.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The funds will help create the Piedmont Teacher Residency Partnership, which will place new teachers in Rockingham and Surry County public schools.

According to a university press release, those teachers will be trained in computational literacy, a method to collect and analyze information to solve real-world problems in the digital age.

UNCG will recruit 80 prospective teachers over the next four years. Graduates who complete the program will earn a master of arts along with their teaching degree but must stay on in a designated school in either Rockingham or Surry County for at least three years.

The first class will start next summer.