North Carolina public schools need 11,000 new teachers each year. Education programs produce 3,500 teachers annually.
School systems statewide are dealing with the effects of the teacher shortage by changing to year-round education in Wake County and several other counties, which have been met with great controversy.
North Carolina Teachers of Excellence for All Children has a different plan of action, according to Grant Holley, director of extension, engagement and extended learning for N.C. State’s College of Education.
The program, which is offered at universities throughout the state, is a state-supported alternative licensure preparation.
NC TEACH is in its third year at NCSU and is offered as distance education at Apex High School, according to Holley.
“It’s important for it to be a real school and an affordable opportunity,” Holley said. “Lead teachers teach the classes — real public school teachers who are in the trenches 24-7.”
Holley also noted that because NC TEACH offers the program through distance education courses, it costs about half what it would cost to attend classes at the University.
Liz Ingram, a sophomore in English teacher education, said she is re-evaluting and will be changing her major next semester.
“Basically, it’s not the education part of the major. I just don’t want English to be the main focus of my degree,” Ingram said. “I would consider teaching another curriculum later on in life.”
Holley said it is very common for young college students directly out of high school to pursue majors beside education.
“Teaching is not a profession that very many people want to do right out of high school. Making the big bucks seems more exciting,” Holley said.
Brittany Prater, a sophomore in English teacher education, said the biggest factor working against teaching is the salary.
“A lot of people want to make it big,” Prater said. “[Teaching] is probably a job that’s paid the least but has the biggest impact on society.”
Holley also credits the teacher shortage to the negative view society has of teaching.
“Our culture is just not supporting good people to be teachers,” Holley said. “The best place to make a difference is in the schools.”
NC TEACH and the College of Education are expanding in the fall due to the success at Apex High. They plan to have cohorts in Fayetteville, Rocky Mount and Sanford that will allow the program to license 200 teachers each year, according to Holley.
Ingram likes the options NC TEACH affords lateral entry individuals, coming from other fields of work, and recent college graduates alike.
“Not everybody wants to go back to school to get certified,” Ingram said. “It’s nice to have other options than graduating with a degree and having to essentially start over.”
Prater has no objection to the alternative style of licensure.
“I actually kind of agree with it. There is always a shortage of teachers,” Prater said. “It’s important to teach young people because they are our future.”
According to Prater, she is positive she wants to teach high school English and has been encouraged by family to do so.
“A lot of people in my family are teachers — my mom and two of my aunts –who spoke very highly of it,” Prater said.
Holley said that while some NC TEACH fellows leave six-figure jobs to teach, the group is diverse.
Two large groups, comprised of new graduates with bachelor’s and graduate degrees in their twenties and retirees, make up the majority of the NC TEACH fellows.
Holley said it is the people who say “I want to be a teacher at all costs” that make up the majority of the teachers in the program.
“They so just want to make difference,” Holley said. “I know it is cliche and all, but it’s the truth.”
Holley said the NC TEACH program plans to expand further in 2008 with a MAT, or a master’s of teaching and a master’s teacher licensure option, that will take one year and a summer of intense distance education courses to complete.
