VCU School of Education Earns $1.6M in Federal Funding to Address Teacher Shortage

Sen. Tim Kaine took part in a visit in February to the Franklin Military Academy classroom taught by Christal Corey, a graduate of VCU’s RTR teacher residency program and Richmond Public Schools’ Teacher of the Year for 2023. (Photo contributed by Andrew Daire)

This article was originally published by Virginia Commonwealth University News.

U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia have announced $1,599,645 in federal funding through the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program to address teacher shortages by supporting the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education’s RTR teacher residency program.

The funding will help recruit and support more teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and provide them with the skills to teach in high-need schools, including those in Richmond Public Schools. The VCU School of Education’s RTR program is an undergraduate and graduate teacher residency program.

Classroom Crossroads: Ohio Wesleyan Education Professor on Impact of ‘Divisive Concepts’ Laws

This article was originally published by Ohio Wesleyan University.

Ohio Wesleyan University’s Sarah Kaka, Ph.D., has testified before Ohio lawmakers, collaborated on research, and presented to peers on the impact of so-called “divisive concepts” teaching laws now adopted in more than half of the nation.

The chair of OWU’s Department of Education, Kaka also has been discussing the topic with multiple media, including The Columbus Dispatch, Education Week, and the “TeachLab with Justin Reich” podcast.

“I think it depends on who you talk to what they say the goal of the legislation is,” Kaka told Reich during their June 8 podcast, “but the reality is that all of the laws – divisive issues concepts – seek to limit what teachers can say or do in their classes.”

Offering Hope for Teacher Shortage

This article was originally published by Altoona Mirror and is reprinted with permission.

Pennsylvania’s children — many of whom face academic and social-emotional challenges — deserve high-quality, well-prepared teachers, but due to teacher shortages many school districts are struggling to hire and retain well-qualified candidates.

The teacher shortage is real and alarming, but there is hope.

The shortage has been building for many years.

Since 2010, new in-state teacher certifications have decreased by nearly 70% to record low levels. In response, the state has issued more emergency teaching permits than new certificates.

Idaho State Albion Center for Professional Development Partners with Ed3 DAO to Offer New Online Courses for Educators

The Idaho State University Albion Center for Professional Development, housed in the College of Education, has partnered with Ed3 DAO to offer a suite of online professional development courses for K-12 educators nationwide.

Co-founded by two educators, Vriti Saraf & Michael Peck, Ed3 DAO is a global launchpad and community for educators who wish to seek innovation and reimagine education using modern technology. The Ed3 DAO courses will help educators leverage concepts and tools including artificial intelligence, decentralization and democratization, financial literacy, cyber ethicism, digital cultural sensitivity, and more in their classrooms. 

“The goal of our courses is to equip educators with the knowledge and skills to navigate and illuminate the power of a decentralized web,” said Mike Peck, co-founder of Ed3 DAO. “Our courses will help bridge the gap between the traditional classroom and the digital frontier.”

T.L.L. Temple Foundation and Texas Pioneer Foundation Co-Fund Grant to Texas A & M University – Texarkana

This article was originally published by TXK Today.

The T.L.L. Temple Foundation (TLLTF) and the Texas Pioneer Foundation recently awarded a five-year $1,137,835 grant to Texas A&M University – Texarkana (TAMUT) to work on building a teacher pipeline to help address the teacher shortage, a high concern shared by school leaders across the country. While many universities talk about high school recruitment to their teacher program, TAMUT is working to develop the teacher talent pipeline as early as 3rd grade and continuing all the way through earning a college credential or degree. “Effective teachers are critical to ensuring that young people learn,” said Wynn Rosser, TLLTF’s president and chief executive officer. “We need more effective teachers, and this approach is exciting because Texarkana-area youth will be prepared to give back to their community while entering a profession with career potential.”

A New Feature of Teacher Prep Programs? Compensating Future Educators for Their Time

A student is honored at the May 2023 graduation reception for the Dallas College School of Education.

This article was originally published by EdSurge

The request came from the students.

Those who were enrolled in — or considering enrolling in — American University’s School of Education said they wanted more classroom experience and more opportunities to practice their craft before being released to do it alone every day to a room full of kids.

Wish granted. Today, and for the last year or so, aspiring educators at American University are required to spend a minimum of 40 hours tutoring students in Washington, D.C. public schools, in addition to completing the long-standing requirement of student teaching for a semester.

“We see now, as students are entering student teaching with this additional experience tutoring, how much stronger they are and how much more prepared they are,” says Ocheze Joseph, director of undergraduate teacher education at the university. “They’re more comfortable in the classroom, more familiar.”

And these students aren’t just getting relevant teaching experience. They’re also getting paid.

STEM, Early Childhood Programs Expand with New Route to Teacher Certification

Beginning this summer, the University of Kentucky College of Education is expanding options for those who want to change careers to teach in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and early childhood. 

The Kentucky Professional Education Standards Board’s university-based alternative pathway to certification, known as Option 6, allows qualified teacher candidates to work in a full-time teaching position within a Kentucky school while enrolled in a participating teacher preparation program. Through this option, teacher candidates obtain a temporary provisional certificate valid for one year. The provisional certificate must be renewed each year, up to a total of five years. Upon successful completion of the program, graduates are eligible to apply for a Kentucky teaching certificate. 

MTSU’s College of Education ‘Optimizes’ Math Literacy Teacher Training for MCS Educators

MTSU’s College of Education continues to strengthen its relationship with Murfreesboro City Schools, this time through math literacy training for K-5 teachers who will return to their district and share their new knowledge with teacher colleagues. 

“We love the teachers teaching teachers model,” said Katie Schrodt, assistant professor of education and one of three faculty running the professional development. “Teachers want to hear from other teachers like them who are in the classroom, so it’s a really effective professional development model.”

NSU Partners with Department of Education to Offer Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway

Northern State University is helping South Dakota solve the teacher shortage by creating a flexible, low-cost pathway for educational assistants (para-educators) who are working in schools to become teachers.

The South Dakota Department of Education opened applications for the Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway to thousands of para-educators working in accredited school districts across the state. The program will help para-educators pursue certification to become licensed teachers.

UNCC College of Education Receives $23M Grant to Support Literacy Education

University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Cato College of Education, a leader in literacy instruction and research, has been selected by the Mebane Foundation to help continue its legacy of supporting innovation in literacy education in North Carolina and beyond through a five-year grant and potential endowment of up to $23 million. 

The decision follows a competitive statewide search to identify a partner to continue to carry on founder Allen Mebane’s commitment to support inventive educational endeavors as the foundation winds down operations over the next decade.

UH College of Education Professor Selected as 2023 Obama Foundation Global Leader

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Education (COE) Professor of Mathematics Education Linda Furuto has been selected as one of 105 Obama Foundation Global Leaders. The program trains participants around the world in leadership development and civic engagement to help build their skills and scale their work across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Furuto will be among just 34 leaders participating in the Asia-Pacific program, representing a cohort of 22 countries/territories across the region.

“I can’t think of anyone more qualified than Linda to represent the COE as an Obama Leader,” Department of Curriculum Studies Chair Patricia Espiritu Halagao said. “Her cutting-edge work with ethnomathematics and involvement as the UH Ambassador to the PVS Moananuiākea Voyage will greatly contribute to better understanding how education can serve our global communities. And, above all, she exudes the values of a humble, caring, and committed servant leader.”

$1.45M NSF Grant Awarded to Longwood University to Expand STEM Teacher Pipeline to Rural Areas

Longwood University faculty members were recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) totaling $1.45 million to recruit and support future secondary school teachers who want to teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects in Southside and southwestern Virginia.

The NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant will fund a five-year project that aims to serve the national need for preparing and retaining highly qualified science and mathematics teachers to teach in rural, high-need school districts. The grant will be used to provide scholarships and academic support to 20 undergraduate students, 14 of whom will be transfers from the Virginia Community College System who will major in biology, chemistry, mathematics or physics and pursue a STEM teaching career.

IUP Receives $1.19 Million to Address Need for STEM High School Teachers

Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been selected to receive $1.19 million from the National Science Foundation through the Noyce Scholarships and Stipends program to help address the critical need for effective Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers in Pennsylvania’s high schools.

Holly Travis, dean’s associate for Educator Preparation in the College of Education and Communications and professor of Biology, is the principal investigator for the multi-year project, which includes collaboration with 12 area school districts and two community colleges.

The project, IUP Crimson Hawks Advance and Retain Great Educators (IUP-CHARGE), will begin in May and continue through April 2028.

Illinois State Receives $800,000 IBHE Grant to Support Teacher Education

Illinois State University was awarded a grant of more than $800,000 by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) to support the ongoing education of early childhood teachers.  

The funds are part of the $3.37 million awarded in IBHE Early Childhood Faculty Preparation Grants. “The grants will help increase the diversity of faculty in early childhood education in Illinois at a time of great need by expanding the educational pipelines for aspiring early childhood faculty,” said IBHE Executive Director Ginger Ostro, in a news release from the Governor’s Office.

Project Impact Focuses on Increasing the Number of Minority Male Teachers

Students participating in the Project Impact program during an event in May 2022 at the James R. Watson and Judy Rodriguez Watson College of Education.

The goal of California State University, San Bernardino’s Project Impact, a community outreach initiative of the James R. Watson and Judy Rodriguez Watson College of Education, is direct: Help close the academic achievement gaps in the state’s K-12 schools, which will ultimately pay dividends in the classroom and its students through the recruitment, training and deployment of minority male teachers into California’s classrooms.

Project Impact was a vision that Watson College of Education Dean Chinaka DomNwachukwu brought with him when he came to CSUSB. It was born out of his own educational journey as a public school teacher in East Los Angeles in the 1990s. He knew firsthand how it felt to be the only Black male teacher on campus at the K-12 schools where he worked.