Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Aides may be answer to teacher shortage

Some of the best teachers of the future are already in American classrooms, according to a teacher recruiting group that wants to see more of the nation's 455,540 classroom aides become licensed instructors.

"An estimated 2 million new teachers will be needed over the next 10 years," said David Haselkorn, president of Recruiting New Teachers Inc. "These classroom understudies could be the stars."

More teachers will be needed because of a projected enrollment boom, caused partly by immigration, and teacher retirements, Haselkorn said.

Teacher shortages already are being reported in some large cities, which are especially in need of bilingual and special education instructors, he said.

Clark County needs science and higher-level math teachers, physical and occupational therapists, and school psychologists. School district officials agree that instructional assistants, including aides to teachers and librarians, are a vital resource.

"These are people who have been in the classroom, have worked with kids and have set their goals to be a teacher," said George Ann Rice, assistant superintendent for human resources.

She said it shows conviction for someone to be exposed to the classroom setting on a daily basis and not be scared off or change their minds about becoming a teacher.

Clark County has more than 1,000 instructional aides who perform a host of nonteaching duties, ranging from supervising playground activities to changing diapers. Some are unable to seek teaching positions, not because they lack the desire, but because of the expense and scheduling conflicts.

To help them, the district established a program called Cohorts that allowed those employed in the school district in a nonteaching field to go back to school and earn a teaching degree at no expense to themselves and without missing a paycheck. The district has graduated and hired 27 participants.

A third class of Cohorts, however, will not begin this fall because of a lack of funding. But Rice said she hasn't given up the project.

The nonprofit Recruiting New Teachers, based in Belmont, Mass., released a study Tuesday that says 77 percent of the more than 9,000 teacher aides studying to become professional teachers are minorities.

They typically live in the urban school districts in which they work, understand the culture of the community and can design strategies to reach these students, the study says. Clark County's Cohort program was geared toward minorities for that reason, Rice said.

"Sometimes I walk to school with students. I go down the same alleys and see the problems," said Jonas Calderon, a former teacher's aide who now teaches at Foshay Learning Center in South-Central Los Angeles.

Living in the community helps him better understand and relate to the students, said Calderon, who escaped the civil war in El Salvador in 1985 and immigrated to the United States at age 15.

In the 1970s, federal programs for teacher aides wanting to become teachers multiplied. At its peak, the federally funded Career Opportunities Program provided nearly $27 million a year, helping a total of 15,000 paraprofessionals become teachers. The loss of federal funding led to the demise of several programs, although several have rebounded since the late 1980s, largely because of backing from foundations.

The study calls on Congress to maintain or expand federal programs that support teacher training, special education and bilingual education and offer financial aid to part-time and adult college students. The federal Title I program, which provides money to schools that educate low-income students, helps pay teacher aides' wages.

While supportive of the teacher aide-to-teacher training programs, Deputy Education Secretary Madeleine Kunin said Congress has slated cuts for the Title I program.

"We can't make promises of money," she said. "Hopefully, Title I will be restored."

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