When districts host student teachers, those teachers are more likely to get jobs in the district,1 and those districts are less likely to have teacher shortages.2 Based on this research, hosting student teachers in schools and subjects where districts anticipate vacancies can be a powerful way to staff classrooms.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)
UNLV developed an apprenticeship program that currently has more than 400 registered apprentices, serving the needs of both urban and rural parts of the state. The program recruits people already working as paraprofessionals and other roles in hard-to-staff schools and engages with districts to identify schools with high teacher turnover (indicating anticipated vacancies) so that they can place candidates as student teachers, ideally leading to hiring into those schools.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
Chicago intentionally uses student teaching to bring more aspiring teachers into hard-to-staff schools, as measured by the district’s Opportunity Index (where schools are ranked on a number of criteria that measure whether they are more affluent or more disinvested). CPS also created the Pre-Service Teaching Equity Program (or P-STEP), a partnership with local teacher prep programs specifically designed to bring student teachers into hard-to-staff schools. The district also opens up hiring opportunities in hard-to-staff schools and subjects before hiring into other positions.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS)
CMS views student teaching as an essential tool in their new teacher pipeline, treating student teaching as a recruitment opportunity. The CMS recruitment team connects with student teachers in October and March to discuss employment opportunities in the district. They emphasize how the district supports beginning teachers, offering mentor teachers professional development for the first three years, a sign-on bonus, and bonuses if they work in certain content areas. The team also offers personalized support in navigating the hiring process; if the student teacher cannot find a position at the school where they’re student teaching, the team helps them find the right fit at another school.
Spokane Public Schools
Spokane worked with local researchers to build a student-teaching portal to streamline placements. While the district currently anticipates low hiring rates, it can easily use the portal to prioritize placements based on the certification areas or schools in which the district anticipates hiring in the coming years.
References
- Krieg, J. M., Theobald, R., & Goldhaber, D. (2016). A foot in the door: Exploring the role of student teaching assignments in teachers’ initial job placements. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(2), 364–388.
- Goldhaber, D., Krieg, J., Naito, N., & Theobald, R. (2021). Student teaching and the geography of teacher shortages. Educational Researcher, 50(3), 165–175.