Area: Strategies for Increasing the Number of Teachers; Alternative Pathway to Teaching

Description:

The Oklahoma Teacher Education Collaborative (O-TEC) is a success story. A public school, community college and four-year institution worked together to provide an innovative strategy to increase the number of teachers. In summary, a differentiated staffing system in an elementary school led to a college certificate that has formed the pathway to a 4-year teaching degree.

Objectives:

• Describe a differentiated staffing system. (Model)
• Explain how a community college developed and marketed the Parateacher Certificate Program. (Description of the Activity)
• Share the results of the Parateacher Program including the passage of a bill in the Oklahoma Legislature, student demographics, increased number of job opportunities, and graduates progress toward a teaching degree. (Outcomes and Evaluation Efforts)
• Describe, from a student's point-of-view, the Parateacher Program experience, which is her alternative pathway toward obtaining a teaching degree. (Summation by Patricia Whitfield, graduate, Parateacher Program)