Teacher shortage feeds demand for education graduates

Photo Credit: Justin Anderson

Fort Worth, TX

2/21/2008

By: Charles Rice, TCU Daily Skiff

As the demand for secondary math, science and bilingual elementary school teachers continues to grow, TCU education graduates are apparently hot commodities.

TCU students get picked up right away by area school districts, said Molly H. Weinburgh, director of the Institute of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education for the College of Education.

"There are principals around the Metroplex who say they would take a less-than-stellar TCU graduate over a stellar someone else," Weinburgh said.

Finding certified teachers in those areas is something that continues to be a struggle not just in Fort Worth, but all over, Weinburgh said.

However, Weinburgh said she feels TCU students are well prepared not only in their content knowledge but also in how they are taught to teach it.

Terry Buckner, director of recruiting initiatives for the Fort Worth Independent School District, said TCU does well at sending students to schools in the district to get firsthand experience, such as tutoring, student teaching and even substituting.

"The training at TCU is great," Buckner said.

While TCU may not be filling all of the area's needs, Weinburgh does feel students in the College of Education are well-prepared, she said.

"Our elementary (graduates) are much better prepared to teach science and math than many other systems," Weinburgh said. "It's not unusual for elementary people to take one methods course where math and science are combined. Ours have two in math alone and two in science alone."

Buckner said the problem the district is facing isn't the quality of teachers but the quantity. Getting teachers in these fields is becoming difficult, Buckner said.

"Nobody is training secondary math teachers, (TCU) is training some and we grab them up," she said.
Clint Bond, FWISD spokesman, said more than 200 recent TCU graduates apply in the district each year.

Because TCU isn't the only school not producing enough graduates in the needed fields, the district hires from other places as well, including state, out-of-state and international schools, Bond said.

In an effort to fill needed positions, the district is beginning to offer $3,000 signing bonuses to certified elementary and secondary math and science teachers as well as elementary bilingual teachers, Buckner said. The district also issues reoccurring stipends of $2,000 a year for math and science teachers and $3,500 for bilingual teachers, he said.

Holly Stringer, a senior education major, said she likes the idea of signing bonuses.

"I think it's a good idea. Math and science teachers right now are definitely at a shortage," said Stringer. "I think offering the bonus would be a good way to lure people in that are in that profession."

Weinburgh said TCU is producing a good number of teachers given its small size.

Buckner said the school districts are doing things to encourage more students to go into these fields, such as creating a new Web site, ramping up recruiting, increasing marketing and holding information sessions, Buckner said.

"We need to encourage more students to go into education at a secondary level," Buckner said.

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