While the state faces a teacher shortage that is anticipated to get worst, one education group is working to attract more people to the field.
The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence conducted a Teach & Inspire Scholarship Program information meeting in Laurel to inform and encourage residents to consider a teaching career.
According to officials with the Mississippi Department of Education, the state is facing a teacher shortage that could worsen next year when 6,000 veteran educators become eligible for retirement.
The American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence is a non-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to recruiting, preparing, certifying and supporting teachers.
Kay Stevens, a American Board for Certification’s representative, said ABCTE certification is not just a test; it is a program designed to inspire career changers to enter teaching and give them a rigorous and efficient process to achieve their goals.
Founded in 2001 via a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, ABCTE addresses the need for knowledgeable and dedicated teachers in every classroom.
Stevens said ABCTE offers a flexible and cost-effective certification program designed for career changers. She said ABCTE opens new pathways into the classroom, helping states, districts and communities meet the needs of their students.
Stevens said candidates for ABCTE certification must hold a bachelor’s degree in any subject area and pass a background check, an examination in teaching knowledge and an examination in the subject area they want to teach. Candidates are not required to take additional college courses in order to earn a teaching certificate.
However, she said, the areas that ABCTE offers a route to state certification in are English, history, math, general science, biology, physics and chemistry.
Stevens said once a person decides to become a teacher, the first step is getting certified and preparing for the examinations. She said ABCTE will help the candidate complete his/her teacher development while they embark upon their new teaching career.
The Office of Educator Licensure for the Department of Education recently reported that 2,397 teachers in the classroom now are on emergency licenses, meaning some are teaching subjects outside their field of expertise, while others are unlicensed.
Officials said the number of emergency licenses, which are issued to people with at least a bachelor’s degree, is used to gauge how many vacancies have not been filled by a certified teacher.
The state of Mississippi also has fast-track programs that are designed to quickly get qualified teachers into classrooms by offering a number of alternate-route licensing programs to recruit more teachers.
For more information about the Department of Education’s licensure programs, visit the Department of Education’s website at www.mde.k12.ms.us/ed_licensure/type_licenses.htm
For more information or to register to attend one of the ABCTE free information sessions, visit www.abcte.org or call 877-669-2228.
Local News
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Photo/Eloria Newell James
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