By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.
Broadcast version by Mark Moran for Big Sky Connection reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Collaboration

In Montana, high schools and colleges are working together to build a pipeline of homegrown talent for the classroom. High school students interested in a career in education are part of teaching teams at elementary schools.

The Teachers of Promise Pathways (TOPP) brings together the Havre and Great Falls school districts with Montana State University-Northern (MSU) and Great Falls College Montana State University (GFCMSU) with dual enrollment opportunities for juniors and seniors.

Education-specific courses are part of the program, and students may have the opportunity to take other college-level classes to earn credits before they graduate high school.

“[The teacher shortage] is past critical stages,” says Brad A. Moore, assistant superintendent of Havre Public Schools.

“We won’t be able to fill all positions. We’ll get by. I was 9-1/2 positions short last year. We’ll be a few short this year. Not just certified teachers, but for paraprofessionals and support staff, we’re short on, too. I’ve been doing this a long time and it gets harder and harder every year to find staff.”

Fostering Homegrown Talent

Beckie Frisbee, the 7-12 curriculum coordinator for Great Falls Public Schools, agrees with that struggle. Frisbee says, in the past, one opening attracted 50-80 applications; one candidate out of 20 would make it to the interview stage. Now, she says perhaps one of five make it that far. Specialty areas are more difficult to fill.

The idea of fueling high school students’ interest and developing talent through TOPP started a couple years ago. Students at their respective high schools take a year-long Teacher of Promise Pathways class at their high school then can take other high school classes or dual enrollment online college classes.

In addition to their academic work, they spend a few hours every week in the classroom, with students, assisting a fully certified teacher. Frisbee says this program offers more security and freedom than the typical process to becoming an educator. 

“Locally, the program has a lot of benefits. Think of a Great Falls high school graduate who has always lived in this area. She wants to teach in the area. She can do the program while working, and be a teacher,” Frisbee says.

“The goal is to stay in our district, which is the idea of growing your own talent. They’re from the area. They can stay here. They don’t have to move. Maybe still able to live with mom and dad. Maybe have a great part-time job in high school, can keep that job, and go to school.

“Versus when they’re a transplant, even if they’re only moving across the state or another state, they’ve got to find a new place to live, a new part-time job [while taking classes]. This allows a lot of freedom from stressors like that.”

The TOPP program falls under a wider New America strategy – Grow Your Own (GYO). GYO – often used to combat the shortage of educators, focuses on the development and retention of teachers who part of the community.

‘You’re helping them succeed’

Havre High School senior Patience Allestad has already made a dent in the classes she needs towards a college degree in education. When she graduates from high school in May 2024, she’ll be close to also earning her associate degree from MSU-Northern.

“I really got into education when I was in my first class and our presenter said, ‘When you’re a teacher, you have the most important job. You help to be part of someone’s life and make a big difference. Without you, even as second grade teacher, they couldn’t be a doctor today.’ You’re helping them succeed,” Allestad says.

Through the TOPP program, Allestad works in a kindergarten classroom every day with 20 students. During her first three periods of high school, she is at Highland Park Elementary School assisting the teacher. 

“I have my own reading group and help around the classroom with writing and fun assignments. I help with whatever is needed, with kids who need extra attention,” she says.

Then, she heads to her high school for a government class, lunch, and three dual credit classes from MSU-Northern. The TOPP program has given her a new perspective of teaching when in classes as a student.

“Especially after my first introduction to education class, you start to study different teaching styles. I remember talking to a teacher one day and said, ‘You teach like this,’ and he said, ‘yes!’”

Allestad says, “I study my kindergarten classroom and watch how the teacher presents the lesson. I study the way she talks – how it’s different based on age levels. Math is a big one because you have so many ways to incorporate a lesson. But I really, really love the teaching styles of math at Havre High. It’s fun. I find myself looking too much into how they teach versus what they teach.”

After earning her associate degree, Allestad plans to continue her education at MSU Bozeman or Western. She hopes to eventually earn a master’s degree and experience teaching every grade. She’s not entirely sure, though, if that will be in her hometown.

“I’ll be the first teacher in my family,” she says. “I have been interested in it from a young age. I played teacher when I was younger and excelled in school very early on.”

Wherever Allestad’s education career takes her, Frisbee says the TOPP program is still an asset to the community.

“If you’ve got young first- and second-year teachers coming back, they’re bringing their income here. If they’re young teachers, they’ll eventually have family which will grow your community and grow the economics. And if you ask a parent, I’m sure they’d love opportunity for their child to not have to move their family elsewhere,” Frisbee says. 

“The true effects we won’t see for three, four, five years,” Moore says. “With the shortage across the state…we’ve got to try something.”


Victoria Lim wrote this article for WorkingNation.


get more stories like this via email

Leaders of a teachers' union in Louisiana are voicing concerns about a package of bills they say would have the effect of dissolving labor unions in the state.

The list includes House Bill 571, which would prohibit public agencies from paying union workers for the time they do anything union-related, even if it's on paid leave.

If passed, said Roberto Furtado, a special-education teacher in the Jefferson Parish Public School System, the bills would end collective bargaining and prohibit payroll deductions for union dues. Furtado said all this would make it harder for new teachers to join the union, further silencing their voices.

"If they make it more difficult for the new teachers, young teachers, to get involved," he said, "then basically, it's a roadblock so they're probably more than likely going to just not do it."

House Bill 572 would prohibit public agencies from collective bargaining with unions, except for police and firefighters. Similar bills have been introduced in multiple states by conservative groups.

The teachers' union has posted petitions on its website for teachers to sign and send to their lawmakers.

Educators in Louisiana have said they're dealing with low pay, overcrowded classrooms and school safety issues. However, state lawmakers have advanced a budget proposal that would cut teacher pay, and the House Appropriations Committee forwarded a spending plan that reduces a $2,000 pay stipend teachers got this school year to $1,300 next year.

Furtado said the end result is forcing good teachers out of the profession.

"Teachers are an invaluable resource for our community, and so we need good, well-rounded educators that want to be there and continue their jobs to help these young men and women, because again, they are our future," he insisted. "That's kind of corny to say this, but yes, our children are our future. If you don't take care of them, where does our future lie?"

The legislative committee also allocated $25 million for a differential teacher compensation strategy for the second year in a row. The union opposed the strategy, because it said the raises wouldn't be permanent and could be taken away from year to year.


get more stories like this via email

By Lane Wendell Fischer for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

Hiring and maintaining a qualified educator workforce is often a primary concern for rural schools across the country, requiring local education leaders to create innovative solutions.

The University of Wyoming’s College of Education has recently partnered with local community colleges across the state to repair a pipeline for future Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers at high schools and community colleges. 

CTE programs offer students an array of skills-based learning opportunities for many high-demand industries ranging from construction, to nursing, to marketing.

For decades, Wyoming has relied on traditional methods to fill out its CTE teacher workforce. After completing a two-year associate’s degree at their community college, students could either enter the trades or take another two years of teacher training. 

“It was very much a fork in the road,” said Rob Hill, a CTE consultant for the University of Wyoming and president of SkillsUSA Wyoming. Hill became a Wyoming CTE teacher through this traditional path.

“You had to take life off and go to school,” Hill said. “That limited a lot of people, especially students with families, jobs, and homes.”

As it turned out, most students never completed the final two years of teacher training and just entered the trades after the first two years at their community college, Hill said in an interview with the Daily Yonder.

This outdated pipeline has contributed to a shortage of both CTE teachers and skilled workers in the state.

According to a 2023 report from the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board, the median age of CTE teachers in Wyoming schools is 52, and national numbers are similar. Compare this to the average age of all teachers in the U.S., which is just over 42. 

On average, a state employee in Wyoming retires at 62. This means that in the next 7 to 10 years, Wyoming could lose close to half of its CTE workforce to retirement.

“We’ve seen a number of things that have impacted us and that rural part is very real,” Hill said.

In rural communities, a CTE program might only consist of one or two teachers. When that school loses a teacher, the whole program is at risk until a qualified replacement is found. 

During a recent tour of Wyoming’s school districts, Jenna Shim, PhD and interim dean of the College of Education, learned that some high school CTE programs are closing down because they couldn’t find replacements.

“One CTE teacher shared with me that he has a specialty in welding, but he has to teach culinary arts,” Shim told the Daily Yonder. “I could see welding and construction, but welding and culinary arts seem like a far stretch.”

And it can be difficult to attract new talent to small schools and communities. 

“We tend to do best with people that are invested in that community previously and become teachers, as opposed to bringing in teachers into small communities,” Hill said.

The CTE Domino Effect in Rural Communities

Adding to the difficulty of attracting new teachers is a domino effect caused by current teacher shortages, Shim and Hill said.

A shortage of educators leads to a shortage of high school CTE programs, which leads to a shortage of students pursuing CTE in the state, followed by a shortage of tradespeople in the state, and a shortage of essential services, which, in turn, leads to less attractive communities.

On top of educational advancement for students, repairing CTE teacher pipelines through state and local partnerships helps assemble the next generation of rural water experts, plumbers, electricians, technicians, mechanics, and more, Hill said.

“It has a trickle-down effect into the stability of the community,” Shim said.

And in rural communities, small fluctuations in population, programs, and services can be especially catastrophic — or especially beneficial. 

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal if you don’t have one teacher,” Hill said. “But that one teacher in a town of 2000 people that teaches welding, where you have a huge welding industry, that has an extremely large impact.”

The broken pipeline has also raised economic concerns. “Without a sufficient number of teachers, it’s hard to prepare a sufficient workforce,” Shim said.

Two key industries in Wyoming are energy and tourism. Both rely heavily on skilled workers. And both are susceptible to booms and busts that give local communities economic whiplash.

“Over the last decade especially, there’s been a real desire to diversify our workforce,” Hill said. “And that means a different generation of career and technical education, like manufacturing, cybersecurity, and data analysis.”

Repairing the Pipeline

The biggest problem in the previous CTE teacher pipeline was continuity, Hill said. The pathway to teacher certification in rural communities must be both attractive and achievable.

This spring, the College of Education piloted a new course that aims to do both by exposing community college students to CTE teaching before they complete their associate’s degree and decide between trades work or teaching. 

“Creating a more seamless pathway is a real goal here,” Hill explained. 

The bridge course will be offered each semester in partnership with all eight community colleges in the state and is inherently low stakes. The course credits can be applied toward an associate’s degree at the community college, toward their teaching degree at the university, or toward any other bachelor’s degree they pursue.

In the course, students get a taste of what a career in CTE teaching is like. Coordinated by Hill, the course is one dose online learning and one dose on-site learning. Hill leads the online classroom, where students learn about different national and statewide topics. “But students will learn about how it’s implemented locally,” Hill said. 

Each community college has a community college professional and a school district professional that serve as a mentor and safety net for local students, introducing them to CTE leaders at both levels. 

One area of misconception is how much CTE teachers are paid, Shim said.

“I think wages scare them most,” Hill said. “But in Wyoming, our hourly wage is higher than many of the trades folks. We have pensions. We have healthcare. It’s a lot more competitive than folks think it is.”

The organization of the course is a masterclass in rural ingenuity. By using technology, the course eliminates long distance travel to the university campus in Laramie on the southern border of the state. It allows students to remain in their local communities, while still being connected to the state’s CTE teacher network.

“We knew we had a statewide problem and we needed to create a statewide solution, or in this case, a local solution for a statewide problem,” Hill said. “This is about connecting people in Wyoming. Because we have these vast distances between us, we have to have a way to connect people.”

Twenty-two students are currently enrolled in the pilot course. Half of the inaugural cohort are community college students. The other half includes veterans, community college instructors, K-12 instructors, and paraprofessionals who are exploring their future career options.

The course has garnered support from state legislators, the university, the colleges, local high schools, local business, and from the students themselves. 

Each of the enrolled students is taking the course tuition-free, thanks to scholarships from local businesses and private donors.

“Word is getting out,” Shim said. “I think that’s a testimony for how important this work is.”

Strong CTE programs lead to strong communities, Shim and Hill said. A lot of high school CTE programs are embedded into community culture. Organizations like FFA provide opportunities for social gathering and community service, for example. 

“We’ve come up with a mutually beneficial solution and this takes a partnership and teamwork,” Hill said. “No significant advances take place without a group of us working together in a mutually beneficial system.”


Lane Wendell Fischer wrote this article for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.


get more stories like this via email

Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has released 57 "interim charges," the topics he wants Senate committees to study in preparation for the 89th legislative session next year.

Four charges are for the committee overseeing public education. They include improving reading and math readiness in grade school, and redesigning the state's standardized tests.

Eli Melandrez, government relations associate for the American Federation of Teachers-Texas, said educators are surprised the list does not include pay increases for teachers or controversial school vouchers, which use public money to pay for private schooling.

"It's interesting to see both of those key issues absent from the interim charges," Melandrez observed. "Across the state we've seen school closures; we've seen teachers being let go. We've seen a greater percentage of our teacher workforce as uncertified educators."

Two unsuccessful special sessions were held in the past few months, in an attempt to pass a school voucher proposal. Other charges for public schools include examining how school districts used COVID-19 funding, and monitoring the implementation of bills passed in the last session.

Patrick also directed the Higher Education Committee to analyze faculty senates, monitor bans on DEI policies at colleges and universities and revise policies for faculty tenure.

Melandrez noted their union is now affiliated with the American Association of University Professors and members are concerned the lieutenant governor is inserting his own political views into the education system.

"That's worrisome for us," Melandrez emphasized. "In public education and higher education, we are seeing a concerted effort to minimize educator voices."

Patrick also wants senators to review university antisemitism policies and protecting the First Amendment rights of faculty, staff and students. The next legislative session convenes Jan. 14, 2025.