Program helps aspiring educators learn to teach

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Traditionally, teachers in Idaho had to earn a bachelor’s degree, complete an educator preparation program and an unpaid student-teacher program, and pass a state board-approved exam to be hired as an educator.

With an increased number of open jobs for teachers, the Idaho State Board of Education has created an apprenticeship program that would fast-track applicants to become teachers, allowing them to earn while learning to teach.

The board created the program that allows aspiring teachers to educate K-12 students without a four-year baccalaureate degree, it stated, but early career teachers can still complete the apprenticeship program and obtain a bachelor’s degree, if they wish to do so.

According to the Board of Education, Idaho had 1,500 job openings for K-12 teachers in 2023 and 2,000 in 2022. Annual job opening by the Department of Labor are predicted to be in the 1,500 to 1,600 range statewide over the next eight years.

“The Teacher Apprenticeship program is another tool to help address this problem,” said Mike Keckler, chief communications officer for the State Board of Education. “Many of our rural schools have paraprofessionals working in them that have established ties to the community. The goal is for the program to create career pathways for paraprofessionals to become certified teachers and work in their local schools without having to uproot and move to attend teacher preparation programs located at our higher education institutions.”

The board reported that student enrollment increased by 16,000 students over the past five years, with 45 schools and 1,100 new teachers added. “This has resulted in a consistent ratio of 14.5 students per teacher statewide,” a release stated. “In 2023, 7% of individual schools had more than 25 students per teacher compared to only 1% in 2018.”

About 60% to 70% of early career teachers continue teaching past the five-year mark and more than 60% of teachers are over the age of 50 and nearly 20% are over age 55, the board reported.

Labor Economist Lisa Grigg said the ability to recruit and retain teachers is important to avoid shortages in the coming years.

“I am hopeful that this program will have great success in incentivizing Idaho teachers,” Grigg said. “Many states are adopting this model and paying teachers in training, and I think some have seen significant increases in teachers becoming certified as a result.”

Tennessee launched an apprenticeship program in 2022, the first of its kind in the U.S. Since then, similar programs have been introduced in 31 states and territories last year. In Idaho, five school districts and three charter schools are participating in the new program.

Castleford Dietrich, Hansen, Middleton and Richfield School Districts and Hayden Canyon, Heritage Academy and Pocatello Community Charter Schools will be the first to participate in the apprenticeship program.