It's a Rap

An educator workforce crisis, years in the making, has schools and communities scrambling to find solutions as new teachers leave the profession in droves and pandemic-fatigued veterans retire to begin new life chapters. The stakes could not be higher as our nation’s democracy, Gross Domestic Product, infant mortality rate, and societal values, depend on a strong public school education system.  

Though we may not be able to convince someone at retirement age to stay and teach a few years longer, we can fix the frustratingly high new teacher attrition rates (spiraling upward to 50%) and lack of educators being representative of the communities they serve by redefining how we prepare teachers for the classroom. We must begin by revising the present 1950’s model for teacher preparation, rooted in short unpaid student teaching stints, to create one or two year-long residencies that employ candidates as Apprentices–aka, Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs).

Apprenticeships, grounded in centuries of successful workforce support, offer a viable talent development pathway through the NYS Department of Labor (DOL) Apprenticeship title of “Teacher”, which now provides districts and BOCES a workforce solution. RAPs are a strong response to teacher workforce challenges as they provide paid on-the-job experiences to teacher candidates working elbow to elbow with accomplished teachers to hone their craft while practicing what they learn in their college courses. Forming a RAP takes collaboration between multiple partners, and the NYS Educator Workforce HUB is here to help.

Remember the line in the movie, Jerry Maguire, where Jerry (sports agent) and Rod Tidwell (football star) are in the locker room and Jerry’s imploring Rod to work with him. Jerry pleads during the emotional exchange, “Help me… help you. Help me, help you.”?  Well, those words and sentiments capture how the HUB functions. Our mission is to help address educator workforce challenges by facilitating Registered Apprenticeship partnerships. So we urge you, help us, help you. The HUB team is well-qualified and able to make the RAP creation process manageable and successful for district colleagues as they step into the roles of sponsor and employer. Click here to get started.