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| From left: Kirk Williams, Andy Beronilla and Jennifer Oloff-Lewis |
California is short 33,000 teachers for the next 10 years in current projections. The California State University system graduates 6,800 teachers per year from its credential services.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, new jobs in science and technology are going to increase
18 percent by the year 2022. These high-earning jobs require heavy training in
math, science and technology. In California, seven out of 10 of the state's
fastest growing jobs are in fields that require STEM training.
These skills begin to develop
in the classroom at a young age. According to a report by The Education Trust, in highly urbanized and impoverished areas have fewer quality STEM educators and a growing proficiency gap between advantaged and
disadvantaged groups.
The quality of training is
also another issue under discussion. When faced with teacher shortages, a number of states allow schools to hire new teachers who haven't yet received expected levels of training.
Addressing this issue
could involve changing the way teachers are trained and hired, according to a report by the Learning Policy Institute.
Lowering standards to become a teacher is one solution the report identifies, though research indicates this may lead to a higher teacher turnover rate in the long haul. Schools with lower turnover rates generally have better student outcomes.
Lowering standards to become a teacher is one solution the report identifies, though research indicates this may lead to a higher teacher turnover rate in the long haul. Schools with lower turnover rates generally have better student outcomes.
Other solutions involve early
recruitment of teachers and a focus on increasing the quality of educators, a strategy California has adopted in recent years.
Chico State recently received a National Science Foundation grant that should help it graduate more math and science teachers.
This year, the university has a little more than $701,000 to train new STEM educators by funding juniors and seniors studying STEM fields who wish to seek their teaching credentials after graduation.
This year, the university has a little more than $701,000 to train new STEM educators by funding juniors and seniors studying STEM fields who wish to seek their teaching credentials after graduation.
(Jennifer Oloff-Lewis)
“Right now, the state is
experiencing a large number of retirees, and some of the biggest need we have
is in the STEM field and in special education,” said Jennifer Oloff-Lewis, the
principal investigator on the grant.
“Rural areas particularly
have a high need (for educators) right now,” she said.
This is the third year Chico State has received funding for the grant. Of the scholarship recipients, 35 prospective STEM educators graduated last school year and
another 33 planto graduate this year.
One of the grant requirements is that each scholarship recipient complete two years
of teaching for each year of support. Each recipient must also complete a
teaching obligation at a high-need school. Students who know they want to teach
are the primary targets, according to Lewis.
A physics student and
recipient of the scholarship, Andy Beronilla, said he was encouraged early on to
become a teacher.
“Even back in high school”
he said, “teachers had told me I speak well in front of others and I’m
comfortable like that, and they always kind of suggested I be a teacher and
back then I said no way.”
During his time at
Shasta College, Beronilla came around to the idea after hearing his college professors
say similar things. The primary benefit that he and another recipient of the
scholarship, Kirk Williams, identified was that it allowed freed them to focus on their education.
“What it does for me is it
allows me not to work another job and to focus on my courses and on other
things I have to do to prepare to be a teacher,” Williams said.
By Nicholas Feeley