Leveraging Teacher Apprenticeship to Grow the ESL and Bilingual Teacher Workforce
By Amaya Garcia
Garcia begins with the note that “…federal data indicate an overall decline in the number of teachers certified to teach English learners.” To mitigate this problem, she proposes teacher apprenticeship as a solution.
She recommends “Dual endorsement” in both elementary education and ESL in teacher apprenticeship programs. Participants can be drawn from people in the community or from high school juniors and seniors, who could have the opportunity to gain classroom experience during the school day. They could also recruit students who have obtained the Seal of Biliteracy and bilingual paraeducators who are already in the classroom but need the credentials to become teachers.
If these recruits have their tuition covered and can keep getting paid for working while they are earning their degree, along with getting credit for their experience, there will be more teachers to fill the gaps.
“More measures designed to fight the teacher shortage in New Jersey schools moved closer to becoming law after the Assembly Education Committee recently cleared five bills that focus on teacher recruitment and retention.”