Teacher shortages are a problem all across the nation, and Michigan is not immune to it either.
“That has to be always top of mind what’s best for children, youth, young people living in those communities and how can we help them thrive,” says Dr. Paula Lancaster.
According to Central Michigan University, rural school districts make up 65 percent of Michigan schools.
And account for 31 percent of the state’s student population.
“We want to dig a little bit deeper and really get specific about teachers at what grade levels, in what content areas, and really hoan in so that we’re meeting the very specific needs of schools in each community,” says Dr. Lancaster.
The university just received a $15 million grant from the Michigan Department of Education to try to help remedy Michigan’s rural teacher shortage.
“We want to create and develop this really robust system for assessing experiences that folks have had and figure out a way to help them turn that into progress toward their credential,” says Dr. Lancaster.
The first step in doing so is creating an online hub, allowing educators in rural areas that are not yet certified as teachers to receive proper certification and professional learning.
“It’s kind of a one-stop place for individuals to come to gather information, but to also share a bit about themselves and work through a process to really determine what are the steps that I still need to take in order to get that credential,” says Dr. Lancaster.
Members of the hub will look at rural school districts to see what specific needs need to be met.
“We’re going to try we’re going to do our best to make the very specific connections so that science and math teachers, then we’re going to be really focusing our searching and our coaching and mentoring on science and math skills and knowledge and abilities,” says Dr. Lancaster.
Then train educators in those specific areas so they can fill the roles of shortages.
Some of the grant will be used to create the hub website, but the rest will be allocated toward funding education.
“We welcome, you know, all educators who want to either finish that credential or add additional areas of expertise, you know, whatever that might be,” says Dr. Lancaster.
To learn more about the grant, click here.
