Northland School Systems Partner With Area Colleges To Train & Retain Teachers
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Excellent teachers can be hard to find‚ but in the Northland area‚ strong partnerships between learning institutions make the search rewarding.
School districts in the area provide a wealth of opportunity for both certified and student teachers from colleges and universities in the region‚ and in turn‚ those teachers inspire some of their students to follow in their footsteps by pursuing careers in education‚ often starting the journey at these same higher learning institutions.
The idea‚ say folks on both sides of the educational equation‚ is to attract and retain good students throughout their educational careers.
“We’re in their classrooms; they have our student teachers‚ so they know us‚” says William Jewell College Association Professor and Chair of the Department of Education Dr. Donna Gardner‚ referring to the area’s K-12 schools.
“The students‚ teachers‚ counselors and principals know our people‚ and so they know Jewell. Our student teachers are out there modeling who we are‚ what we do‚ and that encourages a lot of students to come here after they graduate.”
Continuing the cycle‚ Jewell partners with Parkville’s Park University to hold an annual Education Career Day‚ which basically is a job fair during which education majors from area colleges and universities meet representatives from local school districts and discuss job opportunities.
“We want to help our graduating teachers find positions‚ and we generate about 100 candidates for the school districts to see‚” Gardner says. “It’s also a good time for people who have stepped out of the profession to come back in‚ or for those who are interested in relocating to or within the area to meet the school officials. The schools have other ways of recruiting teachers‚ but this lets them come out and view this year’s ‘crop.’”
One pleased participant in this event is the North Kansas City Schools District‚ says Amy St. John‚ the district’s career education coordinator and facilitator of its School to Career Program.
“Certain teachers come out of different types of colleges‚ so we know that we might be looking at math and science teachers at Jewell‚ and business edu cation people at another university‚” St. John says. “Those relationships with Northwest Missouri State‚ Central Missouri State‚ William Jewell and the others are very important to us.
The human resources people and the principals all go‚ and I do screening interviews right on the spot.”
The School to Career Program works with students while they are still in high school to offer them internship and job opportunities‚ mentoring from business professionals and a jump-start on their college studies‚ which in turn provides the universities a steady stream of new students‚ many of whom will choose to pursue a degree in teaching.
“Having those relationships with the post-secondary institutions is phenomenal‚” St. John says. “If our kids are going there‚ and we’re going to hire them back eventually‚ then you have to have that kind of open communication. It’s quite powerful to have a student teacher in our district who’s been a student here prior to that; we’re really very blessed in this area.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Wes Aldridge
