Paid teacher apprenticeship program, developed in Washtenaw County, goes statewide

A new initiative called Talent Together, which represents a coalition of 39 intermediate school districts (ISDs) across Michigan, is addressing a growing educator shortage by establishing paid apprenticeships for those who are working on achieving an education degree or certification.

The statewide program benefited heavily from its initial development as a small collaboration between several Washtenaw County superintendents, says Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) superintendent Naomi Norman. 

"We're in a really unique county because we have so many institutions of higher education right here," Norman says. "We partner so much with our local universities and colleges that we realized that there was some opportunity to innovate in that space."

Norman says a small committee of local educators began looking into solutions to the teacher shortage with two main questions in mind: "How do we find some different folks who might be wanting to go into teaching, and then how do we partner to do that?" The committee included Norman, Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Alena Zachery-Ross, Dexter Community Schools Superintendent Chris Timmis, WISD Deputy Superintendent Cherie Vannatter, former Chelsea School District Superintendent Julie Helber, and Helber's successor, Mike Kapolka.

Washtenaw County, like many other counties throughout the state and country, had seen a significant drop in new educators worsen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The apprenticeship program aims to eliminate some of the burdens placed upon would-be educators by partnering with universities to create new paid opportunities for the yearlong in-classroom teaching practice necessary to receive certification, all while receiving additional mentoring and support.

Though the program is still in its early stages, the partnership already spans 63 counties, representing over a million students who may benefit in both the short and long term from the increased number of educators.

Norman expects to begin placing potential teachers in the program in the fall, and says the next step for the program after initial expansion will be to begin offering more specialized areas of education.

"We're hoping to match up with some of our neighbors to provide different certification pathways and create more targeted degree areas like maybe high school science," she explains. 

Norman credits the initial Washtenaw County group, and the area itself, with the resources and drive that made the statewide Talent Together initiative possible.

"Whenever you are in a place to genuinely innovate and then choose to follow through and write a great idea, it really does take an amazing group of leaders or people to say, 'We're going to dare to do it a little different,'" she says.

Sabine Bickford Brown is a freelance writer and editor based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at sabinebickfordbrown@gmail.com. 

Photo courtesy of WISD.