Solving the Teacher Shortage Crisis: APSU and CMCSS Team Up on New Program
The first class of residents in the Early Learning Teacher Residence program, a partnership between Austin Peay State University and the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System, wait to sign their contracts on May 24, 2019. (Photo: Jennifer Babich)
This article and photo originally appeared in the Leaf Chronicle and are reprinted with permission.
These are not your typical college students.
Instead, they’re the first class of aspiring professionals embarking on a free three-year residency and degree program to turn themselves into teachers, as part of a partnership between Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools and Austin Peay State University.
The group of 20 recent high school graduates and 20 CMCSS teacher aides gathered with family, friends and educators at APSU on Friday for a signing day event.
It was a moment educators and participants agreed was filled with promise.
“Today is a problem-solving solution day,” said Dr. Prentice Chandler, the dean of APSU’s Eriksson College of Education.
This sort of “grow your own teacher” initiative is being billed as a potential solution to the teacher shortage, which has started to be recognized as an emerging crisis in Tennessee and across the nation.
Tags: clinical preparation, early childhood education, elementary education, school-university partnerships, shortage, workforce development
