The school year may be close to an end but teachers are on my mind this month. According to the Learning Policy Institute one in eight teacher positions at the K-12 level are either unfilled or filled by individuals who are not fully qualified.
The Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative has been designed to remove barriers to teacher certification and is projected to add 1,200 fully qualified teachers to the pipeline from the first three cohorts of the program by 2029, with more on the way. Full financial support and the ability to earn while learning allows the program to target a variety of types of candidates.
The initiative reports high interest in applying for current and future cohorts of the program, contradicting the often heard narrative that there are not enough candidates interested in teaching as a profession.