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* Gabriel Neely-Streit at the Southern…
Two years ago, the state of Illinois asked Southern Illinois University Carbondale to help it study the escalating statewide teacher shortage.
The university surveyed superintendents across the state and found some types of teachers were much scarcer than others — especially in special education. The survey also confirmed the disproportionate need in high poverty areas, from rural Southern Illinois to urban Chicago. […]
Last year, the state asked SIUC to provide a solution. The university got about $345,000 to recruit a cohort of 20 paraprofessionals (also known as teacher’s aides) from across Southern Illinois and convert them into full-fledged, certified special ed teachers.
A year later, 18 of the 20 remain in the rigorous program, taking classes at night, on the weekends, and over the summer to earn their bachelor’s degrees and teaching certifications, all while continuing to work full-time in their special education classrooms.
The state funding covers 100% of their tuition, fees and books, and some travel from as far as 1.5 hours away to participate.
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:17 am
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This is great. Those positions are very hard to fill, and require superhuman patience and compassion. Good for them.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:22 am
Tier2 pensions make a lot of teachers consider other employment. Tier2 is a negative pension, the average Tier2 retiree will collect fewer dollars then what they paid in. Other then that, paid tuition and fees would help a lot.
Comment by DuPage Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:27 am
If there is a need to be met whether special education or in any other subject then we do need more of this.
Comment by Levois J Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:34 am
We could try repeating this in Edwardsville & Charleston. That would cover a lot of Southern Illinois since places like Flora may be too far from Carbondale, but I’ve known a Flora to EIU commuter.
Comment by Blake Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:37 am
$19,200 to earn a bachelor degree. This is the solution to most of the problem. Now if we could get all state colleges to charge this, no more out migration.
Comment by Blue Dog Dem Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:38 am
===$19,200 to earn a bachelor degree.===
Most parapros already have an Associate’s degree so we’re really only talking about two years of education.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:42 am
Very laudable - indeed, more of this please at all the state campuses serving significant rural and small town school districts.
Comment by dbk Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:42 am
I should’ve added that many school districts are also experiencing a severe shortage of parapros. While this may help alleviate the teacher shortage it could potentially make the parapro situation worse.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:50 am
===Most parapros already have an Associate’s degree so we’re really only talking about two years of education.===
For many, going from an AS or AA to a BS or BA on $19,200 would also be a godsend.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:56 am
This is excellent. Take dedicated folks who are already in classrooms and train them up. This is a very smart investment by the state that can easily be replicated at every public university with a College of Education.
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 12:04 pm
@Six Degrees:
Yes, especially at SUI-C where the average annual cost for tuition & fees is just under $15,000. So it appears the school is charging roughly two-thirds of its normal in-state rate.
Comment by Cubs in '16 Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 12:07 pm
*SIU-C
Comment by Cubs in '16 Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 12:08 pm
–Blake - Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 11:37 am:
We could try repeating this in Edwardsville & Charleston. That would cover a lot of Southern Illinois since places like Flora may be too far from Carbondale, but I’ve known a Flora to EIU commuter.–
https://www.eiu.edu/media/viewstory.php?action=1419&fbclid=IwAR2NBdPR5XvVSNucbwnT804iB7ya0nmEQLBd2375LQrVlZQpJcMRWJC7vzc
The program is scheduled to start in Summer 2020. Golden Apple offers further details about the program on its website, https://www.goldenapple.org/, which shares that the organization will recruit program participants who are:
College seniors and career changers with bachelor’s degrees not in teaching but with backgrounds that will help them to teach in high-need areas, such as special education and STEM.
Committed to four years of teaching in southern, central, or western Illinois school districts.
Program participants also can receive:
A $30,000 stipend to apply towards coursework or housing as they pursue their teaching license
Teaching licensure within 15 months
A one-year residency and training program in a targeted partner school district in southern, central or western Illinois
Coursework at a partner university
Job placement in a partner school district in southern, central or western Illinois
Instruction from award-winning educators
Mentoring support for the first two years of teaching
Comment by GoPanthers Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 12:25 pm
The fact that they were already para’s and therefore already had experience to build on and knew what they were getting themselves into speaks volumes about the high success rate.
I second “more like this” pragmatism.
Comment by Winderweezle Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 12:47 pm
EIU publicly announced their program/partnership with Golden Apple this week. It offers the following to people with bachelor’s degrees who are interested in changing careers and teaching in high-need areas, such as special education and STEM fields, and willing to commit to teaching for at least four years:
-A $30,000 stipend to apply towards coursework or housing as they pursue their teaching license
-Teaching licensure within 15 months
-A one-year residency and training program in a targeted partner school district in southern, central or western Illinois
-Coursework at a partner university
-Job placement in a partner school district in southern, central or western Illinois
-Instruction from award-winning educators
-Mentoring support for the first two years of teaching
https://www.wandtv.com/news/golden-apple-eiu-regional-office-of-education-no-partner-to/article_3400ead4-3702-11ea-a67d-6ffac601b24b.html
Comment by Cubs Win! Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 12:55 pm
While I agree with unions in many areas, this is one where I feel unions are harmful under their current practice. A special education teacher should make more than a PE teacher. Most colleges pay faculty in different subjects a different amount based on their market value, K-12 should do the same.
Comment by JT Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 1:17 pm
More of this…is exactly right. What a smart and efficient approach.
Comment by A Guy Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 2:01 pm
In my years of teaching, I knew several teacher aides who went back to get their degrees to be licensed teachers. I agree that their small salaries make it difficult to pay for the cost for tuition and fees. Most took one or two courses a semester and then attended summer school depending on whether or not they had childcare covered for their own youngsters.
Years ago the state offered tuition scholarships for those who went into education and agreed to teach in Illinois for a set number of years after graduation.
Now is the time to re-institute these scholarships for both students and teacher aides.
Comment by Nearly Normal Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 2:03 pm
Option 2 would be to get rid of the more or less pointless requirement of having a bachelors in order to be a para.
Comment by A State Employee Guy Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 2:48 pm
This program mirrors one implemented by SIUC and Southwestern Illinois College - Red Bud Campus 12 or 13 years ago. It was organized at the request of local superintendents, the ROE superintendent, and SWIC-RBC officials. SIUC offered the courses on the Red Bud Campus, meaning students did not need to drive to Carbondale. The target audience was the cadre of teachers aides whom the Principals and superintendents saw as valuable potential teachers. In most cases they were landlocked by families and their commitment to their communities. It was a very effective program.
Comment by Motambe Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 6:08 pm
State Employee Guy - the requirements for education paraprofessionals in Illinois is an Associate’s degree or the completion of 60 credit hrs. and a basic skills test. Paraprofessionals who were working in their field before these requirements were grandfathered in with some conditions if my memory serves me correctly tonight.
Comment by Parti Poodle Thursday, Jan 16, 20 @ 7:20 pm