The Future of Education

A global teacher shortage has presented schools and school leaders with an unexpected barrier to success in their efforts to recover learning loss and make meaningful academic gains after the COVID-19 pandemic. The high number of teacher vacancies requires an innovative and coordinated response from school leaders and teacher preparation programs to ensure a qualified and diverse teacher workforce now and in the future. This paper explores three models initiated by Marywood University in collaboration with its school partners to expand the teacher pipeline, recruit and retain highly qualified teachers, and address a growing need for diversity in the teaching profession. Those models include a grow-your-own (GYO) program for high school students, alternative routes to certification for aspiring paraprofessional educators, and an accelerated pathway for adult learners seeking initial or secondary teaching certifications. Together, the University and its partners have responded to the needs of the workforce and created sustainable practices to diversify and stabilize the local labor market. In combination with emerging literature on teacher preparation, these models provide a foundation for best practices that can be used to produce similar results in a variety of settings, including international contexts.

Beyond recounting successes and comparative analysis, this paper calls on school leaders to embrace their role in developing innovative, sustainable, and ethical teacher preparation programs that are capable of filling teacher vacancies in the modern era.

Keywords: Teacher Shortage, Grow-Your-Own (GYO), Alternative Route, Accelerated Pathways, School Leadership, Teacher Preparation

References: 

[1] Hamman, D., Matteson, S.M. & Nguyen, T. (2023). Finding tomorrow’s teachers: Investigating school district plans for pre-collegiate grow-your-own programs. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31 (77). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7803

[2] National Academy of Education. (2024). Evaluating and improving teacher preparation program (K.M. Zeichner, L. Darling-Hammond, A. I. Berman, D. Dong, & G. Sykes, Eds.). National Academy of Education. https://naeducation.org/publication/evaluating-and-improving-teacher-preparation-programs/

[3] Pitt. N. T. (2024). To teach or not to teach: A qualitative study of pre-collegiate Grow Your Own teacher programs and the perceptions of alumni, current staff, and former staff. AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 21(4). https://www.aasa.org/docs/default-source/publications/journal-of-scholarship-and-practice/winter-2025/to-teach-or-not-to-teach.pdf?sfvrsn=cca70bc6_3

[4] Rankin, K. R. L. & Brinkmann, J. L. (2024). Alternative teacher certification programs: Post COVID-19 pandemic – Do graduates feel prepared to teach in Virginia? Teacher Educators’ Journal, 17, 205-228. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1425849.pdf