Arizona receives $5 million to address special education teacher shortage
Oct. 29
The Arizona Department of Education received a $5 million federal grant to help tackle the shortage of special education teachers across the state.
Arizona has more than 1,400 unfilled teaching positions and the need for special education teachers is even more dire. Special education teachers have more responsibilities such as writing up legal paperwork and instructing students in multiple grade levels who may have different needs, making the jobs harder to fill.
Last year, the department piloted the Arizona Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Program and saw it as a solution for addressing teacher shortage issues by making it accessible and affordable.
Jamie Wilber is the Arizona Department of Education’s Deputy Associate Superintendent said the aim of the program is to retain more special education teachers by reaching people who may already have ties to the field.
“It’s that idea of grow your own. So taking either paraprofessionals, taking parents, instructional aids, people from our communities that always wanted to be a teacher, or they’ve worked in schools and getting them into our apprenticeship program,” Wilber said.
The grant will offer paid hands-on training and mentorship to those who are interested in getting into the field of general and special education.
The apprenticeship program will be offered at no cost to people interested in becoming teachers, thanks to the new grant. The federal funding is from the U.S. Department of Education’s Expanding Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness and will be provided over a five-year period.
How will the apprenticeship program retain teachers?
State Superintendent Tom Horne oversees the Arizona Department of Education and has consistently been vocal about the state’s teacher shortage. That’s why it was important for department leaders to get more funding to continue the program and expand it into rural communities.
“The grant will expand a program that currently serves more than 90 apprentices statewide, has doubled enrollment in the past year, and maintains a 97% apprentice retention rate. Nearly half of current apprentices are pursuing special education certification, demonstrating the strong demand for these pathways,” Horne said in a press release.
One important piece of the program is that participants are training under an experienced teacher. Wilber said many students take alternative routes to earning a teaching degree and are often simultaneously teaching full-time while going to school.
“They’re earning the wage of a certified teacher, they’re going to school at night, they’re having to grade and they’re taking on the responsibilities of a teacher,” Wilber said. “And what we’re seeing in the workforce data is teachers are leaving the workforce very quickly in years zero through four,” she added.
Additionally, the grant helps cover the cost of stipends for teachers who are mentors and covers the cost of the apprentice’s tuition to complete their teaching degree. The funding also provides students with money to buy a computer or pay for internet access.
“If we can provide the support, the mentoring, the induction for our teachers and we can have a true strong leader in there that really understands what’s happening and… make sure that our teachers are really well prepared,” Wilber said.
There has been a lot of interest in the apprenticeship program and Wilber sees it as a long-term solution to the state’s ongoing teacher shortage.
“How do we get people from the community that would be really great for our kids in those communities to be able to stay? And that’s really what we’re looking for,” Wilber said.
Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.
