'They want us to succeed.' NKU trains teacher assistants to be full-time teachers

When Emily Klare's youngest child went off to kindergarten, she decided to get a job at their Kenton County school as an instructional assistant. She'd never thought about pursuing a career in education before, but the hours worked well for her family and Klare's new role made her feel more connected to the school community.

That was six years ago. Her passion for working in schools and with children has only grown. In that time, she's realized a new dream: becoming a full-time teacher.

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"After the first year that I started was when I knew that there was nothing else that I wanted to do," Klare said.

She was willing to continue in her role providing math interventions to struggling students, though. The notion that Klare would go back to school to get a teaching degree was unthinkable. If she quit her job to get her bachelor's, how would her family stay supported? What about the health insurance that comes with her job? And what working mother has the time for college?

But earlier this year a new opportunity came along for Kentuckians like Klare who work in schools and want to become certified teachers. Option 9 is an alternative route to teacher certification that offers individuals working in a non-teaching position at a school to complete their bachelor's degree and certification in three years. Experience these individuals gain on the job counts toward their degrees.

At NKU, more than a dozen elementary teacher assistants are part of Klare's inaugural cohort. They will take classes in the summer, fall and spring over the next three years to become certified teachers. Similar programs have become popular across the country as schools continue to deal with the national teacher shortage.

"It's a difficult and trying time to be an educator right now. There's increased scrutiny on teachers in the classroom with bills and things like so-called CRT, teaching that. Banned books, school safety, school shootings. Every time something like that happens, people inevitably and understandably question being in the field," said Eileen Shanahan, NKU professor and chair of the university's Department of Teacher Preparation and Educational Studies.

The shortage impacts kids and other teachers, too. Shanahan knows because she used to teach language arts to eighth graders.

Retention issues lead to bigger class sizes, she said. Sometimes legislators allow emergency certifications to get more teachers in the classroom during shortages. But those individuals might not have the necessary training and experience.

"That matters because it puts a lot of strain on all of the other teachers in the building," she said.

Option 9 is different, Shanahan said. It offers a full, if condensed, bachelor's experience.

Why tap instructional assistants?

Mirroring nationwide trends, NKU has seen fewer undergraduate students interested in teaching over the last several years. Couple that with more Northern Kentucky teachers leaving the profession or retiring early and schools are left scrambling to staff classrooms.

So why tap teacher assistants? They know their stuff.

Some of the students in NKU's first Option 9 cohort have been in the classroom for a decade or more. They know what to expect and are already dedicated to the communities they serve.

These individuals work Monday through Friday the entire school year in classrooms. They've likely had to work with the most difficult students and with students who have learning challenges. They know the education system well, professor Melissa Hess said: "the good, the bad, the ugly."

"Even though they haven't been to college before," Hess said, "they know their stuff. They have chops. They have the grit."

That's different from a typical undergraduate student, she said, who "maybe has romanticized education."

The Option 9 students are mostly older than traditional undergraduate students. Many have families and other obligations besides their classwork. That's why several of their classes are offered online and why they are in a close-knit cohort with additional supports.

"They know what they're getting into and they're really excited about it," Hess said. "Sometimes I think they're the most dedicated people in that building. They're just trying to take the next step in their careers."

NKU is currently partnering with six school districts for the Option 9 program: Erlanger-Elsmere, Boone County, Carroll County, Covington Independent, Newport Independent and Kenton County. The university hopes to grow its district partners for the program over the next several years.

Working with kids 'made me a better person'

Klare said working in an elementary school has brought out characteristics in herself that she didn't know she had. She has more confidence now. She's more independent.

"It's actually made me a better person, I feel like," Klare said. "I would never go out of my comfort zone before."

And unlike some traditional undergraduate students pursuing teaching careers, Klare said she has no nervousness about leading her own classroom someday.

She is a bit nervous, though, going into her second semester in the program. NKU's inaugural Option 9 cohort began this summer, and the fall marks the first semester with classes coinciding with the students' day jobs.

But Klare said she's confident that she'll get through it with the support of her family, classmates, school district and the university.

"They want us to succeed," Klare said of her professors and other NKU staff. "And they've shown us that they are here for us to help us succeed."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NKU offers pipeline for class assistants to become teachers in 3 years