Horne announces $300K in grant funds to help recruit, train more teachers

Apprenticeships help address chronic shortage

PHOENIX – A new $300,000 grant will be used by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to expand its existing teacher apprenticeship and mentoring program to address the ongoing teacher shortage crisis, according to Superintendent Tom Horne.

ADE is among the sub-recipients of grant funds awarded by the National Center for Grow Your Own (NCGYO) from the private, non-profit Ascendium Education Group. The department will get $300,000 over the next two years to expand its existing teacher apprenticeship and mentoring program. The added dollars will support approximately 100 apprentices as well as mentor teachers statewide.

Horne said, “This is excellent news because recruiting, training and supporting teachers is vital and the teacher shortage has reached catastrophic proportions. These funds will be used to expand our already-robust efforts to help bring more teachers into the profession and retain those valuable educators currently in the classroom.”

He added, “We have developed and implemented numerous “alternate pathways” for those who did not go to education college but have the content knowledge needed to teach. We must also continue to push for more help for educators by increasing teacher pay using State Land Trust funds with no new taxes, and ensuring school administrators support teachers on classroom discipline, the two major issues that teachers cite as reasons to leave the profession.”

NCGYO will provide intensive technical assistance to participating states and local partners, including support with apprenticeship program registration, subgrant design and implementation, sustainability planning, and quality assurance.

The grant project’s goals include:

Increasing the number of fully licensed teachers prepared through high-quality, debt-free apprenticeship programs;

Building state-level infrastructure and policy systems that sustain programs beyond philanthropic funding; and

Leveraging the registered apprenticeship model to improve educator preparation quality while dramatically lowering the cost of earning a teaching degree.

# # #