SAN ANTONIO – Wearing lots of hats, fighting for better pay and school safety are just some of the challenges teachers face these days.
There is a nationwide shortage of teachers, and here in Texas, it is no secret.
“We have been struggling since COVID with the recruitment of teachers,” said Yvette Gomes with Education Service Center Region 20, which provides support to local school districts. “Years ago, our superintendents got together and formed a collaborative here at Region 20, and since then, we have continued to work towards recruitment efforts in our region.”
One solution is creating programs for students in middle and high school who may want to become teachers, offering them a direct path to that career.
“I want a career where I’m actually doing something, making an impact where I’ll love what I’m going to do every single day,” said Dani Valdez, a senior at Clark High School.
Valdez not only knows she wants to be a teacher, but she’s already making career moves while in high school.
She’s in a specialized education career class where she’s in the classroom for that course just two days a week with Sydney Golden, a Clark High School family and consumer sciences teacher.
“She’ll teach us about classroom management and lesson planning. She’ll teach about different things, different students, different accommodations,” Valdez said.
Then, three days a week, Valdez is off campus interning at another school.
“I still work with fifth-graders now, and I truly just found love for it,” Valdez said. “I like working with the students. I like getting to build those connections with them.”
“We try to get them with hands-on skills as well as industry-based certifications,” Golden said. “They’re partnered with a mentor teacher, and we have them working with as young as almost infants at the daycares. Then we also have our local sister schools if they’re interested in going into elementary education or even middle school.”
Golden, who graduated from Northside Independent School District and has now taught there for seven years, teaches nearly 20 students in the education training courses.
“It’s like I was in their shoes!” Golden said.
Watching future educators thrive gives her hope for the profession’s future.
“I think finding those kids early on and getting them to practice that allows them to be more effective as educators when it’s their time in the classroom,” Golden said.
Valdez is far from the only local student on that journey.
The Education Services Center Region 20 recently held its annual Teach 20 Conference for 11th- and 12th-graders interested in becoming teachers.
More than 300 students showed up.
“There was a keynote speaker that really motivated them. We have breakout sessions, and they get to understand all the different pathways,” said Yvette Gomez, component director with ESD Region 20. “They get to hear a student panel. They had opportunities to meet with local colleges in the area. We had some community partners, Teach San Antonio was there, San Antonio Ready to Work, City of San Antonio Initiative and more.”
Gomez said getting those students in the door early means more certified teachers.
“We have probably 12% of our teachers who are non-certified in our region, and so it has been a really big concern for us,” Gomez said.
Valdez already has plans to attend Our Lady of the Lake University on a scholarship next year, earn her degree and certification, and start changing students’ lives as soon as possible.
“I hope also to get my bilingual certification because I am a Spanish speaker,” Valdez said. “My parents they’re both from Mexico and I want to be able to help out those other students that come from other countries and be able to help with their learning.”
There are also other efforts in our area to provide a direct teaching pipeline for young students.
“In most high schools, there are connections with TAFE, the Texas Association of Future Educators,” Valdez said. “We also have Travis Early College High School, which is part of the SAISD collaborative, where they have the Associate Arts of Teaching, and so they are going to come out with an Associate’s degree in teaching. So their pathway into undergrad school is going to be shortened because of that.”
Some districts and centers are making efforts to keep trained students at local schools once they become teachers.
“I know that some school districts have begun to think about programs and pathways that will allow the districts to retain a high school student,” Valdez said. ”So I think there are probably two districts right now that are working on that kind of collaborative with the students to say if we will support you, will you support us in staying?”
ESC Region 20 is also training high school students to become paraprofessionals, such as educational aides.
“So if they get out of high school with a paraprofessional certificate and the district pays, then the district is going to bring them back into the fold to be a teacher in their district,” Valdez said.
Any students interested in learning about the many paths to becoming educators can contact ESD Region 20 at 210-370-5420.
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