Kutztown University gets state grant to support program that addresses teacher shortage
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Kutztown University has been awarded a state grant to support a program that is helping to combat the ongoing teacher shortage in Pennsylvania.
The state Department of Education will provide $946,951 to KU through the department's dual credit innovation program. The money will support scholarships and programming for the school's Early College Academy for Education.
Through the academy, high school students with a general interest in working with children and education studies can attend classes on KU's campus, where they will take two courses in the fall semester and two in the spring. The four courses count toward majors in education.
The program is being piloted at KU, with 39 students taking part. The grant will allow the academy to expand to 60 students next school year.
The following year, the academy will serve an additional 30 in an off-site, rural school district cluster.
Classes are scheduled for half a day, two to three days a week. By the end of the academic year students will have earned 12 credits, which equals one semester.
The academy aims to boost the ranks of teachers, which have been dwindling for several years and took a major hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a report by Penn State University's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis, 38% of school districts across the state reported at least one teacher vacancy this school year.
'The support of the Pennsylvania Dual Credit Innovation Grant will allow us to address the financial and transportation barriers to recruiting teachers,' Dr. Rebecca West Burns, dean of KU's college of education, said in a statement announcing the grant. 'Solving the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania requires a movement away from quick fix, Band-Aid approaches that fast-track preparation or ease the path to certification. Kutztown University is proud and incredibly appreciative of our strong partnerships with our local schools.
'Together, we aim to build a systemic pipeline that recruits high school students, prepares them through partnership in Kutztown's college of education's excellent programs and returns them to their school districts to teach.'
Anyone interest in the academy can contact Burns at burns@kutztown.edu or 610-683-4300. For more information about the academy, visit kutztown.edu/admissions/apply/first-year-students/early-college-academy.html.
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