Saint Vincent College launches fast-track program to combat teacher shortage

There's a new initiative at Saint Vincent College that looks to combat the nationwide teacher shortage by fast-tracking students who wish to become educators. The new initiative accelerates a program that has been in use for more than a decade.

That program is called Educators Rising, and it essentially permits high school students who want to be teachers the chance to get micro-credentials through work and training in and out of the classroom.

But now, Dr. Tracy McNelly, the chair of the education department at Saint Vincent, says they're looking to give students in this program actual college credits for these micro-credentials, which students can then put towards a teaching degree.

"I think the benefit also, because we have this teacher shortage, is that students who bring these credits in, it lightens their load. So, we have students who could come in and potentially graduate a semester early, which then puts them out into the field a semester early," said Dr. McNelly.

According to the Learning Policy Institute, the United States saw a teacher shortage of about 110,000 teachers during the 2023-2024 school year. Projections have that number increasing to 200,000 by the end of 2026. This shortage is seen most prominently in financially strapped and rural school districts. The scarcity of teachers is seen especially in fields such as STEM, special education, and English as a second language.

Dr. McNelly says the need is clearly there, and anything they can do to fill classrooms with good educators, they will.

"The other thing that I think is really beneficial is for students who don't want to leave early, who come in with all of these credits, it broadens their expertise, and I think makes them more marketable because they have room in their schedules now to take additional minors, to take courses to then test into other subjects. So, they are leaving with maybe two or three certificate areas instead of just one."

If you would like more information on this new initiative, click here.