Homegrown approach is best strategy for teacher shortage
Mississippi needs more teachers.
It’s not a new problem, and neither are the attempted solutions. Programs like Teach for America, alternate route certification, and the Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University all aim to attract more people with a diversity of skill sets and experiences into the field of education.
Following along those lines is a new approach from the Mississippi Department of Education, which recently announced a $4.1-million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to fund the Mississippi Teacher Residency program, as reported by the Daily Journal’s Dillon Mullan. The residency will pay the undergraduate tuition for 35 members of Americorps, a national network of community service. The participants will be placed in the classroom of a highly skilled or National Board Certified Teacher mentor for two years. They will then be required to teach in a Mississippi public school district for three years.
The program is an encouraging one with the potential to attract bright individuals from across the country to help in Mississippi’s classrooms. And while many of those teachers likely won’t remain long term, they will undoubtedly boost the state’s educational system.
The reality, though, is that the best way for many districts to address their teacher shortages is through homegrown approaches. That means identifying students with the potential to become great educators and encouraging them to enter the field. It means recognizing those individuals at an early age and making them aware of their potential at a time when they’re beginning to chart their futures. It means explaining to them the intrinsic benefits of being an educator and the impact they could make on the future of their state.
That’s what an innovative program at Tupelo High School aims to do.
Last Thursday, 47 members of the school’s Future Educators of America club spent the day shadowing a teacher at one of the district’s schools. They worked on art projects, taught math problems and helped students prepare for tests. Mostly, they got a feel for what it is like to teach.
For some of those students, the day spent in the classroom was merely a way to confirm something they had long considered. For others, it planted a seed.
“I was skeptical about teaching,” said Tupelo High student Kyion White. “. Shadowing a classroom did a great job of opening my mind to teaching.”
The best place for districts to find talented future educators with a vested interest in their communities is right in their own backyards. And the more they can find ways to tap into that pool, the better the state’s future will be.
(Tupelo) Daily Journal
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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