ERIC ED592605: Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.?

2018·0.94 MB·English

by  ERIC

Can Immigrant Professionals
Help Reduce Teacher Shortages
in the U.S.?
© 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ..........................................................................................................................................................ii
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................1
Expanding the Pipeline: Alternative Routes to Teaching Careers ............................................................................2
Washington State: How to “Grow Your Own” Educators ...........................................................................................5
California: A Teaching “EnCorps” for Career Changers ..............................................................................................7
Oregon: Building a Bilingual Teacher Pipeline ............................................................................................................9
New York City: Career Paths to Career and Technical Education ..........................................................................10
Federal Supports for Alternative Teacher Certification ..........................................................................................12
High School Career and Technical Education Teacher Pathway Initiative (CTE-TPI) .............................12
The Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) Grant .................................................................................................13
National Professional Development Program (NPD) ....................................................................................13
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Title II, Part A .........................................................................................14
National Alternative Pathway Programs ....................................................................................................................14
What Is Happening in Other States? ...........................................................................................................................16
Minnesota: Collaborative Urban and Greater Minnesota Educator Program ...........................................16
Ohio: Central Ohio English Learners’ Education Collaborative (COELEC),
English Learners Career Ladders Initiative .......................................................................................................16
Maine: Newcomer Extended Teacher Education Program (ETEP) .............................................................17
Arkansas: Project REACH
(Retooling Educators and Paraprofessionals to ACHieve Teacher Credentialing) ..................................17
What Are Immigrant Advocacy Groups Doing? .........................................................................................................17
Recommendations and Next Steps: Building Teacher Bridges for Immigrants and Refugees .......................19
Endnotes ...........................................................................................................................................................................22
About ................................................................................................................................................................................31
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report looks at the challenge of teacher shortages facing public schools across the U.S., and
the role that internationally educated and trained immigrant and refugee professionals can play in
addressing these shortages. The discussion focuses in particular on “alternative teacher certification”
initiatives that seek to attract a diverse group of career changers and subject matter experts into the
classroom—immigrant professionals among them. The report also offers policy recommendations at
the local, state, and federal levels that would help advance such efforts, and support the development
of a skilled and diverse teacher workforce that meets the needs of increasingly diverse schools.
At a national level, the supply of teachers has remained stable in recent years—however, at the
state and local level, school districts have been wrestling with long-standing teacher shortages in
a number of specific fields, including science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects;
career and technical education (CTE); bilingual education; and special education. Schools and
students in low-income and minority neighborhoods often face particularly significant challenges in
terms of recruiting and retaining teachers in hard-to-staff subjects.
In a country that is increasingly diverse and an economy that is increasingly dependent on STEM training
and technical skills, there is widespread recognition of the pressing need to address critical gaps in the
supply of teachers by subject and by school. Strategies proposed for addressing these shortages include
strengthening the student pipeline into traditional teacher preparation programs; expansion of financial
aid and other incentives; and improved teacher salaries and professional development opportunities.
In recent years, alternative teacher certification programs have become another important tool in the
battery of policies that states, school districts, and the federal government are employing to fill gaps
in critical areas and to grow and sustain a trained and committed educational workforce.
ALTERNATIVE TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS AND
IMMIGRANT PROFESSIONALS
Alternative teacher certification policies are in place in some form in almost every state. Currently
nearly one-third of teacher preparation programs nationally are alternative certification programs,
and their number is growing. These initiatives seek to attract and fast-track into the teaching
profession diverse and nontraditional candidates, including industry professionals, career changers,
and paraeducators—individuals, in other words, who often already have significant experience
in STEM and CTE fields. Many of these candidates also have bilingual and bicultural skills. While
requirements for admission vary by state and program, most alternative routes to certification
require candidates to have at least a bachelor’s degree. On the way to full teaching certification, these
candidates must typically complete course work in key subject areas and pedagogy, and obtain
relevant classroom teaching experience and professional mentoring.
Alternative certification programs vary widely in their level of targeted outreach to and support for
specific populations. But a growing number of these initiatives are seeking to leverage the talents and
the cultural and linguistic diversity of immigrant communities, including foreign-trained professionals,
especially those with experience in STEM and CTE fields as well as bilingual and bicultural skills. The
potential for these highly skilled individuals, many of whom are underemployed, to make a significant
dent in labor shortages among the teaching workforce is significant: There are almost four million
immigrant professionals in the U.S. labor force with a foreign bachelor’s degree or higher, 29 percent
of them unemployed or working in low wage or low-skilled jobs. This includes more than 260,000
immigrants with teaching degrees, 41 percent of whom are unemployed or underemployed.
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
ii
This report profiles efforts across the country to address shortages in STEM/CTE instruction and
in other areas, and to increase teacher diversity through alternative certification programs, with a
particular focus on those that are already reaching out to, or are positioned to reach out to, foreign-
educated immigrants. We explore programs in Washington State, California, Oregon, and New York
City, along with promising initiatives in several other states. We also look at policies and funding
streams at the federal level that seek to support and expand alternative certification options, and
examine a number of national non-profit programs that work to draw nontraditional candidates,
including career changers, into the teaching profession.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The report closes with recommendations in two areas. First, we point to promising program and
policy models that can facilitate the entry of more foreign-trained professionals into the teaching
workforce in the U.S. These include:
• Expanded outreach to foreign-trained immigrants in the context of existing alternative
certification programs
• More targeted and fully articulated pathways that meet the unique needs of immigrant professionals
• Policy or regulatory changes to make requirements for education, work experience, and testing
more flexible and streamlined for skilled immigrants
Second, we propose ways that local, state, and national education stakeholders can work together to
leverage the unique assets that immigrant professionals bring and the opportunity they represent in
helping to address urgent teacher shortages in this country’s schools. These strategies include:
• Convening stakeholders across the K-12 and higher education system to share perspectives and
best practices in this field
• Research and communications that elevate public and policymaker awareness of best practice
program models
• Cross-sector collaborations among stakeholder groups to cross-fertilize the field by aligning
program and policy strategies, long-term goals, resources, and conceptual frameworks
Building and strengthening bridges into the teaching profession for immigrant professionals will call
for leadership, collaboration, commitment, and creativity across all parts of the educational system.
Given the centrality of state policy and funding streams in teacher preparation and certification
requirements, state policymakers and other state education stakeholders have a particularly key
role to play in this process. But school districts, especially in immigrant-rich communities, are also
positioned to advocate for and creatively leverage programs and policies that tap into the foreign-
trained talent in those locales. The wide-ranging initiatives profiled in this report suggest we may be
at a tipping point in terms of recognizing and promoting the potential contributions of internationally
trained professionals in U.S. classrooms. In a K-12 education system working to address challenges
on many fronts, immigrant professionals can become an important part of the solution to creating
a teacher workforce that meets the needs of all students, and the demands of the 21st century
economy those students are entering.
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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INTRODUCTION1 In a country that is becoming ever more diverse,
and with career opportunities for students
With teacher demand surging in the past decade, and young adults increasingly dependent on
and projections of increased demand in coming STEM training and targeted job skills, such
years, there has been much media attention shortages pose a particularly dire challenge. A
to the threat of teacher shortages around the growing body of research indicates, moreover,
country.2 Despite the widely reported challenges that a diverse teacher workforce that reflects
facing schools in many locales, however, from a the student population is a key component of
national standpoint the issue is less clear. On the student success.8
whole, as one 2016 study noted, “The supply of
teachers nationwide is not significantly different States and localities across the country as well
than it was five years ago.”3 Yet this national as federal agencies are pursuing a variety of
picture belies the situation in many classrooms. strategies to address such teaching shortages.
Between 2015 and 2017, at least 11 state task
Much recent research has, in fact, highlighted forces and other working groups were convened
dramatic teacher shortages in states and school to examine these issues and provide potential
districts across the U.S. But these shortages are solutions to policymakers.9 Among these are
selective, varying by state, by subject, and by solutions that can tap into the talents and
school. While nationally more teacher licenses are experience of almost four million immigrant
being awarded, 20 states have seen decreases in professionals in the U.S. labor force with a
recent years, some by one-third to almost one-half.4 bachelor’s degree or higher earned outside of the
And all around the country, educators and U.S.10 Some 29 percent of these highly educated
policymakers are devising strategies to strengthen and high-skilled immigrants are currently
the pipeline of teachers into science, technology, unemployed or under-employed, working in low
engineering, and math (STEM) as well as career wage or low-skilled jobs.11 This includes more
technical education (CTE) and other subject areas, than 260,000 immigrants with teaching degrees,
including bilingual/English learner education, 41 percent of whom are unemployed or working
special education, and early childhood education.5 in low-skilled jobs.12
Alongside shortages by state and subject area,
schools in many parts of the country face an even To understand the potential career pathways
bigger gap in the share of the teaching workforce for high-skilled immigrants and refugees into
who are minorities or individuals of color—in all teaching, it is important to have a clearer picture
fields.6 And all these burdens, not surprisingly, fall of the wide range of approaches that states and
most severely on students at schools in poor and localities are exploring and implementing to
minority neighborhoods, where teacher hiring and meet teacher shortages in particular subjects
retention historically face greater obstacles.7 and particular schools. These solutions include
4
million
immigrants with foreign
bachelor’s degrees or higher
1.15
million
working in low wage,
low-skilled jobs
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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strengthening the traditional pipeline of EXPANDING THE
individuals into teacher preparation programs
PIPELINE: Alternative
through expansion of tuition grants, financial
aid packages, and other incentives; increasing Routes to Teaching
recruitment of international teachers; and better
Careers
support of the existing teaching workforce
through improved salaries and professional
development opportunities. The variety of initiatives designed to address
teacher shortages is as wide-ranging as the
Another increasingly popular strategy involves causes of the shortages themselves—causes that
expanding alternative teacher certification vary by state, district, and community. Among
programs that seek to attract and fast-track those that recent research has highlighted are:
diverse and nontraditional candidates into the
profession, especially in STEM and CTE subjects. • A “leaky pipeline” of high school and college
Such candidates include industry professionals, students into STEM/CTE teaching fields
career changers, and paraeducators—immigrant (especially students of color)
and refugee professionals among them.
• Challenges in recruitment and retention of
This report profiles efforts across the country to existing teachers because of low salaries, poor
address shortages in STEM/CTE instruction and working conditions, and limited opportunities
increase teacher diversity, focusing primarily for professional development
on alternative certification pathways. The
report explores programs in Washington State, • High teacher attrition due to retirements
California, Oregon, and New York City, along (one-third of annual leavers)
with promising initiatives in several other states.
Representatives of many of these state and local • Increased levels of teacher transfers from high
programs came together in late 2016 to share need schools
their experiences and discuss the possibility
of coordinating efforts to create pipelines for • The greater appeal, and pay, of jobs in
internationally educated STEM professionals into private industry
in-demand teaching careers in the U.S. Many of
the insights and recommendations that emerged • The low standing of the teaching profession
are reflected in the discussions here. We also in the U.S.
look at federal policies and funding streams
that seek to support and expand alternative • Cuts to district budgets during the recession
certification options, and at national non-profit
programs that work to draw new faces and new • Differences in teacher pay across states
talent into the teaching profession.
• A confusing state-to-state patchwork of laws
This report closes with recommendations in two and regulations governing the training and
areas. First, we point to promising program and certification of teachers that creates barriers
policy models that can help facilitate the entry to entering the profession within states and
of more internationally trained professionals moving into jobs across states13
into the teaching workforce in the U.S. Second,
we propose ways that local, state, and national One response to these challenges has been the
education stakeholders can work together growth of alternative certification options for
to leverage the unique assets that immigrant recruiting and training new teachers outside
professionals bring and the opportunity they of traditional teacher preparation programs.
represent in filling urgent teacher shortages in Present now in some form in almost every state,
this country’s schools. alternative certification programs first become
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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In 2013, alternative
programs produced
one of every five
teachers in the U.S.
popular in the 1980s, when they were seen as typically need to be completed either before
a hedge against projected teacher shortages. or during the candidate’s first year of full-time
In recent decades, alternative certification has teaching.17 Participants often receive a stipend, a
become an increasingly mainstream model for scholarship or tuition reduction, or other financial
bringing into the teaching profession individuals incentives. Residency programs, modeled
not served by traditional teacher preparation after the concept of medical residencies, are
programs. Alternative certification programs an increasingly popular alternative option for
especially seek to recruit individuals to work in teacher preparation. These programs assign
high-need schools and to teach high-demand teacher candidates to spend a year as a
subjects such as STEM and CTE, as well as “resident” in the classroom, working alongside
bilingual and special education. These programs an experienced teacher mentor. They also
typically seek to recruit individuals with require teaching candidates to pursue concurrent
bachelor’s or graduate degrees in relevant areas, instruction in both pedagogy and required
as well as mid-career professionals, including subject areas. Residencies are specifically
those who are attracted to teaching but are not designed to help districts accelerate the entry
ready to bear the cost of tuition or forgo earnings of professional talent into high-need schools,
associated with completing standard teacher especially in particular in-demand subject areas,
education programs.14 and often include a multiyear commitment to
working in high-need schools or districts.18
Currently nearly one-third of teacher preparation
programs nationally are alternative programs As we will discuss, alternative certification
offered by institutes of higher education, initiatives are increasingly viewed as a means
private and non-profit providers, local and state for professionals with strong content knowledge
education agencies, and other partnerships.15 to transition to working as K-12 educators in
In 2013, alternative programs produced one of their fields of expertise. These programs may
every five teachers in the U.S.16 be designed to attract professionals who have
a background in areas affected by teacher
As with teacher certification requirements shortages, such as STEM and CTE subjects, and
in general, the required course of study in those who are looking for low-cost, streamlined
alternative certification programs varies widely pathways into another profession. Such options
from state to state. Typically candidates must can represent a win-win for districts. In addition
complete additional college course work, ranging to bringing real world skills into the classroom,
from short-term training to a graduate degree alternative certification programs can provide
program, and must also gain relevant part or full- an attractive pathway into teaching for many
time classroom experience. These requirements individuals, including males and people of
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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color, who are less likely to attend traditional the country. Most recently a number of states,
teacher preparation programs.19 Some research including Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, and
comparing student achievement in classes led by Pennsylvania, have proposed exploring the
alternatively certified teachers and teachers with development of GYO programs as part of their
standard traditional preparation has shown no Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plans.24
significant difference in the quality of teaching,20
and teachers with alternative certifications often GYO programs can be as different as the
score higher on licensing exams.21 communities they serve. Some seek to provide
introductory course work or mentoring to
In an effort to address the persistent shortages high school students to interest them in a
of minority teachers and teachers of color in teaching career; others may offer financial
high-need schools, an increasing number of incentives for racial or ethnic minority college
states and school districts are also exploring students to enter teacher education programs.
Grow Your Own (GYO) programs. National Many GYO programs also seek to engage
efforts to create pathways into teaching for school support staff (such as paraeducators),
individuals of color working as paraeducators parents, or other community members,
or teaching assistants go back to the Pathways providing them with the wraparound financial,
to Teaching Careers initiative of the late 1980s academic, and social supports they need to
and 1990s, funded by DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s earn their teacher certification. In this context,
Digest Fund.22 The GYO model originated as alternative teacher certification programs
a community-based initiative in Chicago, also provide an important tool for attracting
focused on bilingual paraeducators. Such adult career changers and professionals from
programs partner school districts, higher local communities. This includes leveraging
education institutions, and community-based competency-based approaches for advancing
groups to actively recruit and train racially, paraeducators—the most diverse segment of
ethnically, and linguistically diverse candidates the educator workforce, and one that often
to enter and persist in teaching careers in their includes foreign-trained teachers and other
own communities.23 Illinois funded the first skilled immigrants—toward obtaining full
statewide GYO program in 2004; since then, teaching credentials.25
GYO initiatives have expanded to states across
Grow Your Own Programs
Partner School Higher Education Community-
Districts Institutions Based Groups
Recruit and train ethnically and linguistically diverse
candidates to enter the
Teaching Profession
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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As the examples that follow will demonstrate, The following sections explore the efforts in
tapping into the opportunities that alternative these and other jurisdictions, including federal
certification programs and GYO initiatives government programs, to expand and diversify
represent must be a collaborative effort. Such the teaching workforce and the potential
efforts call for creativity and coordination on opportunities they offer to high-skilled immigrant
the part of state agencies and policymakers, job seekers.
school districts, higher education institutions,
and community partners, as well as a resourceful WASHINGTON STATE:
braiding of state, federal, and sometimes private
How to “Grow Your
funding streams. Strengthening and better
integrating such initiatives into state teacher Own” Educators
pipelines also often require legislative and
regulatory changes to create more streamlined Washington has been among the most proactive
and flexible certification requirements. Such and creative states in finding ways to expand
programs can call as well for new cross-sector and diversify its teaching workforce, including
partnerships to support new recruitment, engaging with and supporting its growing
training, financial aid, teacher induction, and population of immigrant professionals.27 Such
residency options.26 a push is not surprising: This bastion of the
nation’s high technology industry also faces
Alternative teacher certification and GYO dramatic teacher shortages. Recent surveys
programs vary widely in their level of targeted show nearly a quarter of schools in crisis mode,
outreach to—and support for—specific struggling to staff classrooms with fully certified
populations. But an increasing share of these and qualified teachers. Districts are also working
initiatives are seeking to leverage the talents and to increase the diversity of teachers in a state
the cultural and linguistic diversity of immigrant where more than two of every five students
communities, including internationally identify as being of color.28
trained professionals, with a primary focus on
individuals with experience in STEM and CTE The state’s track record of innovation in creating
fields and those who worked as educators in more flexible teacher certification pathways goes
their home countries. back nearly two decades. Since 2001, the state
has distributed block grant funding of $2 million
Alternative teacher pathways represent an to encourage districts to support its Alternative
opportunity for internationally trained teachers Routes to Teacher Certification. Through these
and professionals from many different fields, grants, the state currently funds 19 programs that
from engineering to business to health care, to pair districts with state colleges and universities
employ their experience, expertise, and linguistic to develop pathways along four different routes
and cultural knowledge in new careers that can to certification.29 After the passage of legislation
help both their families and their communities in 2017, Washington State also launched a
prosper. Compared with other licensed Paraeducator Board that is responsible for
professions in the U.S., teaching has increasingly setting policy regarding paraeducator standards,
become a field to which there are multiple paths professional development, and career ladders
of entry, and a wide range of local, state, and toward earning teaching credentials.30
national initiatives that seek to engage diverse
candidates outside of traditional educator Each of the state’s routes to certification focuses
preparation programs. on a different population and a different set
of career goals. As described in a 2015 study by
Among the states and localities that have the advocacy group OneAmerica, these
made the most progress in implementing such routes include:
programs are Washington State, California, and
Oregon, and cities like New York City and Seattle.
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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Alternative Routes to Certification
2 More than
has been distributed by
million
Washington State since 2001
7723+J+ 6733+J+
has gone to the diverse hold a BA or
77 1/3
% group of paraeducators higher degree
“1. P araeducators or emergency substitute Current GYO strategies include alternative route
teachers who wish to transition their programs, redesigned scholarships for current
associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree, teachers, and teacher academies to support
the education attainment level necessary to diverse students in becoming educators. Districts
qualify as a lead teacher; are encouraged to recruit and train individuals
from within their own communities to become
2. P ara-educators who already have their teachers, including high school and college
bachelor’s degree but still require a students, career changers, and paraeducators.
teaching certificate; Such efforts include providing resources and
technical assistance to help districts partner with
3. P ara-educators who already have their local higher education institutions.36 PESB is also
bachelor’s degree but still require a lobbying the state legislature to expand funding
teaching certificate; for the Alternative Route Block Grant, fund a
statewide GYO initiative, and provide additional
4. T hose who hold a bachelor’s degree and state-funded loan forgiveness for teachers
enter conditional certification agreements working in high-need schools.37
with school districts agreeing to complete
course work within a set timeframe.” 31 The almost 85,000 foreign-trained professionals
in Washington State are also beginning to
A full 77 percent of block grant recipients receive more attention as part of these efforts,
are paraeducators,32 more than one-third of both from PESB and from immigrant-serving
whom hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.33 As organizations and other community-based
part of the state’s efforts to support educator groups.38 Washington’s immigrant advocacy
diversity and culturally responsive teaching, community, which has a strong track record
Washington’s Professional Educators Standards on educational policy, has begun to draw
Board (PESB), the body that oversees the attention to the potential contributions of
state’s teacher certification process (including immigrant professionals in the state, including
the Alternative Route Block Grant programs) the ability to strengthen and diversify the state’s
has also been encouraging school districts to teaching workforce. The study mentioned
develop GYO teacher programs.34 Leveraging above, Reducing Brain Waste: Creating Career
private funding, the state is also enacting a Pathways for Foreign-Educated Immigrants
“GYO Educator Infrastructure Pilot Initiative, in Washington State,39 was developed by the
which aims to help seven districts develop and advocacy group OneAmerica in collaboration
implement sustainable plans to diversifying with a wide range of state and local stakeholder
their workforce.”35 partners, including the Washington PESB. Among
Can Immigrant Professionals Help Reduce Teacher Shortages in the U.S.? | © 2018 World Education Services. All rights reserved.
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