By
Richard Clark
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA education department offers a number of programs to recruit, train student teachers
The UA Department of Education and its graduate students are working on ways to help alleviate the statewide shortage of teachers.
Several new programs are being implemented this year to increase the number of students in the education department as well as to increase student participation in local schools.
One of the largest new programs that has been implemented is the Teach for Tucson program, said Larry Leslie, University of Arizona vice dean of the education department.
The objective of the program is to recruit Tucsonans retiring from their careers and give them the opportunity to get a fast-track master's degree for teaching. The program includes a paid internship to help offset education costs.
A second area of change in the department includes moving core curriculum classes off-campus and into local schools to get education students more in touch with the classroom setting.
"We have received national criticism in the past for being too isolated from classrooms," said Leslie.
He said that the schools appreciate it because they can use the extra help and the students enjoy it because it gives them a chance to work in a classroom before they begin their teaching jobs.
"Anything we do that gets students out to the schools early helps keep the students in Arizona," said Leslie.
A third area of change within the department is to alter the curriculum to make it more attractive to incoming students.
Some of the most needy schools in the state are in rural locations. Leslie said the UA has been trying to get students into teaching positions in some of these locations.
"We have been trying to put students into rural areas and meet with districts to make it feasible to get students out there," he said.
The UA has also developed a program to bring in teachers with master's degrees from around Tucson school districts to work with students and help them develop teaching techniques.
Erica Kartchner, an education junior, said that working in rural areas is not a problem for her.
"I am from a small town and would love to live and teach in a small town," said Kartchner.
Leslie also said the number of students allowed into the program has increased from 220 to 350.
Additional funding from the university and state has allowed the programs to be implemented, he said.
The high attrition rate among teachers can be traced back to several reasons, said Gill Roehrig, UA doctoral candidate in the education program.
Higher salaries in other states and careers in a competitive work force are making it difficult for schools to hold onto teachers.
The average starting salary in Arizona is $23,900 for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and $26,000 for one with a master's.
These salaries are below the national average, Roehrig said, and some states are offering signing bonuses as high as $20,000 for science teachers.
She left her teaching job at Catalina Foothills High School for several reasons, including low salary and too many political headaches.
Luis Gonzales, an education sophomore, believes that low salaries are the main reason for teaching shortages in the Tucson area. He said he believes the public will respond to the needs of the teachers soon.
"The public will respond to the needs of teachers when the situation gets bad enough," said Gonzales.
Shauna Jones, an education junior, is also concerned about the shortage.
"By the time a lot of people around here graduate there is going to be a teaching shortage everywhere," said Jones.
Roehrig said she believes that if the attrition rate among teachers can be lowered, the teaching shortage can be eliminated.
Graduate students and professors in the education department have been working on ways to lower attrition rates.
Julie Luft, UA associate professor in the education department, has been involved in research for first and second-year secondary science education teachers with Roehrig to help them with their lesson plans and help get them through their first two years.
Both hope that if they can aid starting teachers, they can lower the attrition rate.
Of the teachers that they have worked with, they have already seen improvement in the structure of their lessons and ability to teach.
"We're non-judgmental friends - we're someone to help plan - we are helping teachers to success," said Luft.
