Clarksdale district trains high school students as future teachers to ease shortage
Clarksdale Municipal School District posted 40 teacher vacancies in July, giving it the second-highest teacher shortage in Mississippi last year, district administrators said. To address the gap, district leaders are recruiting potential teachers while they are still in high school through a state-approved vocational educator preparation course at the Carl Keen Career and Technical Education Center.
The course is taught by Candace Barron and was launched at the Carl Keen Center during the 2021-22 school year after director Triccia Hudson sought to widen the local pipeline into teaching. “You don’t see as many families of educators any more,” Hudson said, adding that aspiring teachers needed more mentorship.
Students in the class learn lesson planning, classroom management and the history of public education. Clarksdale High School sophomore Khloe Reed said the lessons about the origins of public schooling were “fascinating,” and that teachers serve as positive role models. Sophomore Leah Myles said she was inspired to enroll after seeing her brother struggle with reading, and sophomore Jamarick Davis said education “has the power to change kids’ lives.”
Candace Barron has taught elementary school for 18 years and high school for four. She told students she keeps a professional approach in the classroom to avoid adding to any challenges they may face at home: “I do have bad days, but I try not to bring it to work … I come in, I have my game face on, I’m going to do what we have to do.” Adrienne Hudson, who runs the Clarksdale-based nonprofit RISE that assists aspiring educators with licensure, said scholarship incentives and professional development that once helped recruit teachers have diminished. “We really have lost a lot of the efforts that were put in place to combat the teacher storage crisis,” she said.
Barron said the program builds confidence and practical skills that help students whether or not they pursue education as a career. She described classroom projects such as bulletin-board design and student presentations and said some participants have grown more confident speaking before peers. “I really hope that by the end of the program that they feel like they can make an impact on somebody’s life by becoming a teacher or getting into the education field,” Barron said. The approach also aligns with research by the National Council on Teacher Quality showing that early recruitment can increase diversity in local teacher workforces.
Source: Original Article
