PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The interest in pursuing teaching as a career path has fallen, and the School District of Philadelphia is responding by growing its program that pays for some of its staff, including classroom aides, to become full-time educators.
With upheaval from the pandemic and classrooms increasing the focus of culture wars, fewer students are seeking teaching careers. A decade ago, 20,000 new teachers entered Pennsylvania’s workforce.
Last year, it was 6,000, according to Tomás Hanna, the chief talent officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Hanna feels the decrease is due in part to students already in education programs being told not to enter the field.
“We’ve got to change that narrative,” Hanna said.
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Because of this, the School District of Philadelphia is expanding a program that pays for classroom aides to become teachers.
“We believe paraprofessionals who are part of the fabric of our schools are the solution to our educator workforce dilemma,” said Hanna.
“We know that there is a growing teacher shortage in the country, and so we also know there is a commitment to teacher diversity in our district as well as in the state,” Larisa Shambaugh, the district’s chief talent officer, said at a PDE meeting on Monday.
“Those two goals are the reason why we started to create this program, to invest in our ‘paras.’”
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The district is paying for two years of college tuition for paraprofessionals to get their teaching certificate because they are part of the fabric of schools and the solution to the educator workforce dilemma, Hanna added.
The program is funded by $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan money, but School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington announced that the district was adding $1.7 million in local funding to expand the program.
84 paraprofessionals have taken advantage of the program so far.