Aspiring teachers in Kansas have a new paid path to career through pilot program

Kansas’ State Department of Education kicked off a pilot program Tuesday morning meant to provide aspiring teachers with an alternative path to their career.

The Kansas Registered Teacher Apprenticeship program allows students to get four years of full-time paid employment as educators while pursuing their degree in education.

“If you can learn on the job, you have an opportunity to see the entire breadth of the education world, and you also have an opportunity to figure out if you really love this profession, because if you don’t, then there are other places you can get a job,” said Kara Belew, a U.S. history and government teacher at Andover Central High School and Kansas Teacher of the Year finalist. “This is for people who already know they love education, and they just need an extra help and an extra hand to get going.”

Belew is part of a group that will provide the teaching apprentices with professional development programs during the summer in preparation for their full-time positions.

Students in the program will see increased responsibilities across their four years on the job as they apprentice for experienced teachers in the classroom. In addition to this, they will take night and summer courses.

At the end of the four years, students will earn a degree the same as any other four-year program.

“This model is different than going to college to become a teacher, and we’re not trying to do away with that model. We’re trying to add to it,” Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson said. “These are people that generally could not afford college or could not see their path of going to college to become a teacher.”

WSU Executive Vice President and Provost Shirley Lefever said the program fits in with the university’s priority of access and affordability. Paid applied learning is something WSU is always on the lookout for, she said.

“When you’re applying what you’re learning immediately, you just… you learn differently,” Lefever said. “It’s a much deeper learning, and I like to say it lasts you a lifetime.”

The program is a collaborative effort between Wichita State University, the Kansas Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the Kansas Department of Commerce. By fall of 2024, Watson said they hope to have other Kansas universities included in the program.

So far, eight school districts are participating in the program: Salina Unified School District, Wellington, Lyons, Dodge City, Auburn-Washburn, Tonganoxie, Topeka and Attica.

The program comes amid a teacher shortage in the state. As of Spring 2023, the State Board of Education reports 1,634 teacher vacancies in the state.

“When we have a teacher shortage, then we have a future shortage,” Belew said.

The program aims to expand into a statewide project in the 2024-25 school year following the pilot program’s completion.

Currently, 15 apprentices are enrolled in the pilot program. Watson said they are expecting up to 100 apprentices in 2025, and 500-800 apprentices within the next five years.

Watson said the program will be primarily targeted at first-generation students. Any students looking to become educators, regardless of age, will be considered for apprenticeship.

“We heard from so many people, ‘I can’t afford to go to college,’ and it wasn’t just the cost of college. It was ‘I have to earn money day one,’” Watson said.

Those wanting to get involved with the program can express interest to the principal or superintendent of a participating school district. The district faculty can then choose to reach out to the apprenticeship program to start the process.

Mike Beene, assistant secretary with the Kansas Department of Commerce, said the Teacher Apprenticeship program will use roughly $3 million of a recent grant given to the state as part of the MeadowLARK Initiative. The MeadowLARK Initiative, announced earlier this week, seeks to bring more Registered Apprenticeship programs and opportunities to the state of Kansas.

“I think if we focus in on keeping talent within the state of Kansas, this is a key component, or part of that component, of keeping young adults and older adults engaged in their communities, both large and small,” Beene said.