Agencies Collaborate To Promote Registered Apprenticeships for Education
Addressing the shortage of qualified teachers nationwide will take a coordinated approach, which the federal departments of Education (ED) and Labor (DOL) are working to develop and grow. The agencies recently announced efforts to advance teacher preparation programs and expand registered apprenticeships for educators using federal grant funding.
Registered apprenticeships can be a valuable tool in addressing the teacher shortage by establishing effective, high-quality “earn and learn” models that allow candidates to earn their teaching credentials through structured, paid on-the-job learning experiences with mentors, combined with coursework.
ED announced new awards totaling more than $27 million to support these efforts. These entail $14.5 million in Teacher Quality Partnership grants, which are intended to improve the quality of prospective and new teachers by improving educator preparation programs and supports for new teachers, and $12.7 million in Supporting Effective Educator Development funds to support the implementation of evidence-based practices that prepare, develop or enhance the skills of educators. These grants also will enable recipients to develop, expand and evaluate practices that can serve as models to be sustained, replicated and scaled and include career advancement opportunities for current teachers.
DOL also has awarded more than $65 million in formula and competitive grants to 45 states and territories to develop and scale registered apprenticeship programs in education and other critical sectors. Kansas, Utah, North Dakota, Washington and New Hampshire received DOL competitive awards to support the expansion of registered apprenticeship programs for K-12 teachers, as well as other sectors prioritized by these grantees. Furthermore, the Department of Labor is announcing a new registered apprenticeship industry intermediary, RTI International, that will specifically focus on launching, promoting and expanding registered apprenticeship programs in K-12 education.
Along with announcing the awards, the agencies announced the release of the National Guidelines for Apprenticeship Standards (NGS) for registered apprenticeships for K-12 teachers, as developed by The Pathways Alliance and approved by DOL. The NGS can guide states, school districts and other apprenticeship sponsors to align their programs to quality standards for K-12 teachers. It also provides a framework that partners can use to develop state specific program standards and provide for expedited development and approval of new apprenticeship programs.
The grants advance a key focus area of ED’s Raise the Bar: Lead the World initiative to boldly improve learning conditions by eliminating educator shortages. “Teacher apprenticeships are a key strategy in our plan to Raise the Bar in education and improve learning conditions in our schools by ending the educator shortage and providing all students with great teachers who are prepared to succeed in the classroom from day one,” said ED Secretary Miguel Cardona. “Providing opportunities for future teachers to earn while they learn has created an affordable and exciting pathway into the teaching profession that can help states build a talented and diverse pipeline of educators at a moment when doing so has never mattered more."
Join us for our following Thompson Grants events:
Federal Grants Forum For Institutions of Higher Education | Sept. 13-14, 2023 | Virtual Event
Virtual Advanced Federal Grants Forum | Oct. 25-26, 2023 | Virtual Event
