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From Learners to Teachers

Wilmington University and Appoquinimink School District find the future of education in their own classrooms.

According to the National Education Association, nearly onethird of public school teachers responding to a recent member survey say they plan to leave the teaching profession earlier than they’d anticipated. For those considering becoming teachers, the path to entering the field of teaching after college, or leaving more lucrative jobs to become teachers as a mid-career change, may feel challenging.

In an attempt to reduce challenges to entering the teaching profession, the Delaware Department of Education has launched the Teacher Academy, an academic pathway designed to cultivate the state’s future educators by preparing students in 21 high schools for careers in elementary and secondary education.

The program offers motivated students an in-depth view of the profession through work-based learning such as job shadowing and mentorship, and enables them to earn college credits toward a teaching degree even before graduation.

Appoquinimink School District in Middletown, Delaware, has taken the Teacher Academy concept a step further. Graduates of its “Grow Your Own” initiative, created in partnership with Wilmington University, are able to substitute-teach in Appoquinimink’s schools and, once they have earned a bachelor’s degree, they are guaranteed full-time employment in the district.

“This is a life-changing opportunity for students,” says Dr. Matt Burrows, Appoquinimink’s superintendent of schools. “They’re going to graduate from college with the security of a job and a supportive network of teacher and principal mentors.”

The Teacher Academy and Appoquinimink’s homegrown initiative also propose a solution to talent loss in the state’s teacher preparation process, says Dr. Robert Rescigno, an assistant vice president of academic affairs at Wilmington University.

“Approximately 40 percent of our teacher prep students are coming from out of state,” he says. “There’s nothing bad about that, but we must keep in mind that they will return home once they graduate. Delaware has the resources available to grow our own talent, and the Teacher Academy helps to set students on the path early on.”

“Much credit goes to Appoquinimink School District for having a comprehensive plan that brings students together in actual classrooms with teacher-mentors and supervisors,” adds Rescigno. “They discern those who have a calling and who have what it takes to become educators, capitalize on their strengths, and help them to step into the profession.”

At a recent meeting of Appoquinimink’s school board, Rescigno presented Angelie Ross-Jimenez, one of the district’s first Teacher Academy graduates, with a full scholarship to Wilmington University’s College of Education. When she graduates with her teaching degree in elementary education, she’ll join more than 3,500 Delaware teachers who earned their bachelor’s or master’s degrees at WilmU, including 11 of the last 14 Teachers of the Year as selected by the state Department of Education.

The University has revolutionized teacher preparation with its Year-Long Residency student-teaching program. College of Education bachelor’s and master’s degree students have the option to spend an entire school year as apprentice teachers in select partner schools throughout Delaware.

As with Appoquinimink’s “Grow Your Own” initiative, WilmU’s Year-Long Residency makes Delaware students into Delaware educators, providing them with job opportunities in the schools where they learned to teach.

An alternative to the traditional 80-day student-teaching model, WilmU’s Year-Long Residency immerses and integrates teachersin-training into the expectations and execution of the job, while the schools at which they’re working study and cultivate their abilities.

“Our Year-Long Residency students are actually working alongside their mentor teachers every single day, sharing all the responsibilities of the classroom,” says assistant professor Tyler Wells, who oversees the program. “Their coursework is embedded into the residency as they plan and deliver instruction, as they observe and influence student development. They attend meet-theteacher night and parent conferences. They take part in in-service days and standardized testing. They’re real teachers.”

To John Gray, dean of WilmU’s College of Education, it’s a contribution toward the classrooms of the future. “We have shown that we can help people who want to be teachers to achieve their goals, regardless of their backgrounds or career paths,” he says. “That’s our true mission, and why we’re so committed to it.”

To learn more about Wilmington University’s College of Education, please visit the website at wilmu.edu/Education.

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