Nebraska Teacher Shortage ‘Summit 2.0’ Lifts Strategies, Ideas to State Steering Committee
The Nebraska Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (NACTE) is proud to be a leader in the state’s efforts to address the educator workforce challenges it faces. It was thanks to an AACTE chapter grant, that NACTE was able to host the first Nebraska State Educator Shortage Summit in October of 2021.
The original summit’s 100 participants, representing PK-12 education, the State Board of Education, the Nebraska Department of Education, supporting education associations, Educational Service Unit, and educator preparation programs (EPPs) participated in fully interactive discussions designed to identify state priority areas. The day-long summit concluded by identifying four priority areas and establishing a state task force for each area. In 2022, the four task forces, composed of those who attended the first summit, focused on the areas of certification, recruitment, and retention, elevating the profession and the Praxis Core required exam. While many things were accomplished it also was apparent that there was more work to be done as a collective education community in Nebraska.
That is how the Nebraska State Educator Shortage Summit, or Summit 2.0, came to be. Funded in large part by a Nebraska Department of Education Shortage Pipeline Grant, this event convened a few months ago in October. Summit 2.0 was a two-day event with an expanded program that included interactive discussions, keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and a 100% increase in registrants. That meant we had to move to a legitimate conference facility, which was fairly daunting to our planning committee as it got very real, very quickly.