In recent years, the shortage of qualified teachers has made headlines across the country. The lack of sufficient, qualified teachers and staff instability threaten students’ ability to learn and reduce teachers’ effectiveness. High teacher turnover costs money that could be spent elsewhere.
The annual Gallup poll that surveys school superintendents across the country showed that 61% strongly agreed that "recruiting and retaining talented teachers" would be a challenge for their district.
To help turn this tide locally, the Gwinnett County Public School System began a program several years ago to encourage Gwinnett students to become teachers. Through targeted coursework, mentoring programs, school-sponsored clubs and scholarship opportunities, the district is looking to bring back some of its best and brightest students as future educators.
The pinnacle of this initiative is a “signing day” ceremony to celebrate those who commit to the county and the profession. “May 7 was National Teacher Day and we thought it was fitting to use a time for honoring teachers as a day to bring new teachers into the fold,” said Linda Anderson, associate superintendent for human resources and talent management.
The district identified seniors who had taken at least one education course to gauge their interest in teaching as a career — 338 in all. With testing, graduation, jobs, etc., only 38 made the ceremony. But another 60 underclassmen were invited to share the experience.
With a family of educators going back to her great grandmother, Grayson High senior Abby Williamson said the school's Education and Training Career pathway, a set of classes targeted to a specific profession, was a no-brainer. It gave her, among other things, hands-on training with fourth-graders year at Starling Elementary, where she spent much of her senior year.
“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “I enjoy working with kids and helping them overcome their struggles. It’s amazing when you see that confidence kick in.”
Williamson has her eye on special education with a master’s degree in speech.
“I have type I diabetes and I understand what it’s like to be different from other kids,” she said. “Signing Day was cool because we’re inspired to come back to the community.
“Of course, I’ll go wherever I’m needed, but I’d love to end up back at the school that meant so much to me growing up.”
But not every student is interested in becoming a teacher.
For at least a decade, the supply of teachers has been in decline. Fewer teachers are entering teacher-preparation programs, with a decline from more than 700,000 enrollments in 2010 to fewer than 500,000 in recent years.
Sam Meers graduated from Parkview High in 2010 and thought about sports management or some similar business-related field after graduation. He stayed close to home attending Gwinnett Tech. After transferring to Georgia State, friends and advisers told him he seemed to have a natural affinity for teaching.
“I laughed at that,” he said. “I’m not really a kid person and I didn’t like to talk in front of people.”
He took a speech class and found himself coaching soccer and gradually realized that he really liked what he was doing.
“I like to be heard and I liked the way the younger kids looked up to me,” he said.
He switched from business administration to history and through luck, good contacts and an outgoing personality landed a dream job. He’s now in his first year teaching business classes at Mill Creek High School. And perhaps the cherry on top is that he’s a junior varsity soccer coach as well.
“I’m very happy where I am,” he said, adding there’s nothing wrong with giving back to the community that helped make you.
That’s why the Gwinnett program is doing well, said Anderson. Right now, there are no set goals for how many new teachers the program hopes to grow, but every year a new component is added.
This is the first year that students were asked to sign a conditional letter of intent. “In the past we just had them sign certificates,” said Anderson. “But this shows a level of trust and commitment.”
Besides signing a promise to come back, the graduates have someone check in on them periodically. Anderson called them “touchpoints” who keep students engaged, offer guidance and let them know that they are needed.
The head of the program has hired college interns to help keep the communications fresh and relevant.
“No one knows Generation Z better than some of their own,” said Anderson. She added that plans are in the works to build apps, push out information and hold a college send-off in July
"Gwinnett is sought out as a district where teachers want to work. We are always able to fill all our vacancies," said Anderson. "But we try to grow leaders in many forms. This is a new avenue to enable us to attract a higher quality of teachers and that's a win for everyone."
Gwinnett County Public Schools teachers
11,024 teachers in the district
1,928 teachers hired this school year
395 new hires who were GCPS alums
88.8% Overall teacher retention rate
92% New teacher retention rate
Source: Gwinnett County Public Schools
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