CHCCS Working to Solve Teacher Shortage

Students country-wide are taking part in a trend, picking majors other than education. In 2010, there were fewer than 200 undergraduate students studying education at UNC. Since then, Chapel Hill and Carrboro have seen fewer and fewer newly graduated teachers and more and more teachers going.

In the past five years, the school system has had to hire on average 160 new teachers each year because so many have opted to leave.

“Over the past three years our top three reasons have been retirement, teaching elsewhere, and family responsibility,” said Arasi Adkins, Executive Director of Human Resources for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. “Definitely like I said, they’re common reasons. They’re not unique.”

Adkins said the school system is trying to change how many teachers come and choose to stay.

“We continually have to be innovative for our strategies about recruitment,” she said.

One of the ways CHCCS is doing that is with its new program: TA to Teacher. In a partnership with North Carolina Central University, officials pick a small number of teaching assistants each year. The program pays their full tuition and reimburses them for books. Adkins said the teaching assistants in turn complete an education program that will grant them their teaching licenses.

“It helps us to build a pipeline of teachers in house,” she said. “It’s sort of a grow-your-own program.”

The first group of students are completing the program this year. It will take them two years to finish. But she says the impact they will have after they complete it will last even longer.

“Making this kind of investment in our employees whose salaries are going to increase upon graduation and completion from the program and securing a teaching position,” Adkins said. “This has the potential for very positive economic impact in our community.”

Three of the 12 students in the program have already been offered jobs, and are simultaneously finishing the program while they teach. Adkins said this program has a lot of potential in the future. But she says CHCCS is constantly looking for other ways to encourage teaching.

“We have to continue to think about other ways,” she said. “But we’re really excited about this because we do think that this is going to be very helpful in the long term.”

CHCCS and NCCU are looking to continue the program after the current cohort completes it. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation is accepting donations to fund the next group of students.

CHCCS Working to Solve Teacher Shortage

On Air Now: 97.9 FM