It's a Rap

New York’s educator shortage is not a future problem. It is here. Across the continuum, from early childhood to high school classrooms and school leadership, districts and education organizations are grappling with how to recruit, prepare, and retain a stable, qualified workforce without placing unsustainable financial burdens on aspiring educators.

To better understand what effective solutions actually look like on the ground, EDHUBNY is excited to release A Case Series: Registered Apprenticeship Programs for Educators, a deep dive into how five education agencies  across New York State are using Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) to strengthen their local educator pipelines.

Registered Apprenticeship Programs are rapidly emerging as one of the most promising workforce strategies in education. Nationally, more than 100 educator RAPs are active across 45 states, supporting thousands of apprentices through paid, structured, earn-while-you-learn pathways. New York was the first state to register the title of teacher as an apprenticeship occupation, and the momentum has continued.

Yet, while interest is growing, many education leaders still ask:

• What does an educator apprenticeship actually look like in practice?
• How does this work in early childhood, K–12, and school leadership?
• How are programs funded, sustained, and scaled?

This case series was designed to answer those questions with real examples, real data, and honest reflections from the field.

The series profiles five distinct Registered Apprenticeship Programs, spanning urban, suburban, and rural communities, and covering roles from Teacher Assistant to School Administrator:

• Kennedy Children’s Center (NYC), Early Childhood Special Education Teacher Assistant Apprenticeship
• Brentwood Union Free School District (Long Island), a CTE high-school pathway through a Teacher Assistant Apprenticeship
• Buffalo City School District, growing employed teacher assistants to teachers in a Teacher Apprenticeship 
• Harpursville Central School District (Southern Tier), growing a current teacher into a School Administrator/Building Leader through an apprenticeship program
• Classroom Academy (Capital Region/North Country),the nation’s first Registered Teacher Apprenticeship, operating through the Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) spanning multiple districts and institutions of higher education to grow teachers regionally.

Each program reflects a different entry point into education, a different community need, and a different staffing challenge. The commonality? All use apprenticeship as a strategy to invest in local talent, reduce turnover, and create clear, more accessible career pathways.

What We’re Learning from the Field

Across all five case studies, several themes consistently emerge.

Apprenticeships expand access without lowering standards.
RAPs combine paid, on-the-job learning with aligned degree coursework and mentorship, allowing candidates to earn credentials, gain essential school based experiences that readies them for their future role and establish meaningful professional networks and support within the organizational community.

Local recruitment matters.
Whether recruiting high school seniors, paraprofessionals, or experienced teachers ready for leadership, these programs are prone to leverage individuals who already know their communities. This strengthens both retention and school culture.

Sustainability requires braided funding and strong partnerships.
Successful programs leverage a mix of local dollars, workforce funding, higher education partnerships, and state and federal resources to support wages, tuition, and program infrastructure.

Registered Apprenticeship is a workforce strategy, not just a training model.
Employers across entities reported improvements in staffing stability, leadership continuity, and student outcomes, especially where apprenticeships are embedded into long-term district planning.

EDHUBNY’s Role: From Pilot to Scale

The case series also reflects EDHUBNY’s evolving role in supporting education employers statewide. Since its launch, EDHUBNY has helped grow New York from one registered educator apprenticeship to 40 registered programs, while engaging more than 1,500 stakeholders across the child-serving workforce landscape.

In response to feedback from the field, EDHUBNY has further expanded support through initiatives such as:

• ANEW, a new association which offers group sponsorship to reduce administrative burden for education and childcare employers serving children from birth through high school graduation. 
• AppleCORE, an AmeriCorps embedded model to offset employer costs and support apprentices.
• Facilitated partnership pilots with workforce development boards and local economic development groups to unlock additional apprentice funding and further embed educator careers into the local economy.

These strategies are helping move educator apprenticeships from promising pilots to scalable, sustainable systems.

Together, these case studies illustrate a clear message. Registered Apprenticeship Programs are not a one-size-fits-all solution as they can be contextualized to meet employer needs.They offer a powerful and adaptable tool for building the educator workforce New York needs. By centering paid learning, local talent, and cross-sector collaboration, educator apprenticeships offer a long term pathway to a more stable education workforce, resulting in stronger schools and stronger communities.

Read the full case series: A Case Series: Registered Apprenticeship Programs for Educators