How Illinois is responding to the teacher shortage
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - Taking up a great deal of headlines in recent years has been articles about the teacher shortage that seemingly reaches across the nation. Based on various data these headlines are the reality that many schools are faced with.
In 2017 Southern Illinois leaders from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), John A. Logan College, Shawnee Community College, the Regional Office of Education, and several area high schools came together in an effort to create a plan in an effort to build an educator pipeline for the region. The work of this original group has developed into the Southern Illinois Future Teachers Coalition (SIFTC).
For the last year SIFTC has been under the leadership of Brooke May and Hannah Middelton and has been able to expand its impact with the help of grant funds from the Illinois State Board of Education. May and Middleton have been able to aid in establishing and growing Educator Rising/Future Teacher Clubs in high schools across the region, build out dual credit education courses in many of these schools, aid in getting current high school teachers credentialed to teach dual credit and be licensed to teacher education courses, facilitated meetings between numerous stakeholders, and most recently held a regional conference for 150 students from Anna-Jonesboro, Brehm Preparatory School, Carterville, Cobden, DuQuoin, Johnston City, Massac County, Meridian, Vienna, and West Frankfort at SIUC's Touch of Nature. Students at this conference were either involved in the future teachers clubs at their respective schools and or have expressed interest in a career in education.
One of the original partners in the work dating back to 2018 is Vienna school superintendent Joshua Stafford. Stafford shared,
"As I walked into the dinning hall at Touch of Nature and witnessed all of the young people from around the region gathered to learn more about being an educator my heart leapt with excitement and joy! While the teacher shortage is a multifaceted problem we must all work to do our part and after years of work on doing our part in this region it was rewarding to see so many young people gather and interested in pursuing the call to be an educator. There is more work to do and everyone can agree that they want the best teacher for the kids in their lives that they love the most, which is reason enough for all of us to contribute to this important effort."
During the event, SIFTC awarded five $1,000 scholarships to Anna Clark (Johnston City), Makane Cass (West Frankfort), Hannah Lynch (Carterville), Molly Smith (Cobden), and Yrecha Jackson (Meridian). In order to qualify for a scholarship, recipients had to hold at least a 3.5 GPA and commit to attend either JALC, SCC, or SIUC as an education major.
Keynote speaker, Dr. Lindsey Jensen, 2018 Illinois Teacher of the Year and Illinois Educators Rising State Representative spoke to both teachers and students during this event.
Dr. Jensen said, "The work being done by the Southern Illinois Future Teachers Coalition is incredible. Their efforts to recruit the next generation of our profession are inspiring, and their work needs to be replicated throughout the entire state. The event was a great success because it provided students the opportunity to network with each other and talk about teaching. Spending the day with such amazing young people gives me great hope for the future of our profession, which I'm confident is in good hands."
Representatives from SIFTC are ready to assist any high school with building out educators pipelines through mentorship, collaboration, and sharing of resources. For more information, see https://www.viennahighschool.com/siftc or email Brooke May at brookemmay@viennahighschool.com.