Oklahoma schools need more teachers. OKC has a creative way to address the issue

Oklahoma is facing a teacher shortage the likes of which it’s never before experienced, with more than 4,100 emergency-certified teachers — who have had no teacher training in the grade level or subject in which they’re teaching — currently in state classrooms. That number has steadily grown the past few years.

Oklahoma City Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district, has 435 of these teachers this school year, more than any other district in the state. (By comparison, for the entire state, only 189 were issued for the 2013-14 school year.) To help address the issue, the district’s foundation has developed a unique solution — growing its own teachers from a pool of people already invested and working in the district.

In early May, the district held a graduation ceremony for five of its employees who earned teaching degrees from the University of Central Oklahoma through the district's "Teacher Pipeline Program." The program allows paraprofessionals working in the district to graduate from college debt-free and begin leading a classroom of their own.

Since it was launched in 2016, 25 participants have successfully completed the program, while 81 others will be working toward their degrees as of this summer. The deadline for applying for the program for fall 2024 is May 15.

“We’re not sitting around waiting for somebody to come rescue us,” district Superintendent Sean McDaniel said while watching the graduates pose for pictures and celebrate after the ceremony. “We’re doing something proactively to turn our para-pros into teachers. It matters. There’s the pride in themselves, and how proud we are of them. This is where the rubber meets the road.”

How did the district’s Teacher Pipeline Program start and how does it work?

Students in the Teacher Pipeline Program often start their educational journeys by earning an associate degree at one of three local colleges — Oklahoma City Community College, Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City or Rose State College in Midwest City — before transferring to UCO to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Some students attend UCO from start to finish.

No matter the route chosen, the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation covers all education expenses as long as the students remain employed with the school district and pledge to remain in the district for a minimum of three years after graduation. Most students work toward their degrees while juggling their studies and full-time jobs with family commitments and other obligations, said Mary Melon-Tully, the president and chief executive officer of the foundation.

She said the program began in 2016 as a way for the district — in which nearly two-third of its students are Latino — to address its need for more bilingual teachers. It soon grew to include paraprofessionals of color within the district and now is open to all district paraprofessionals.

The effort also led to the creation of a pipeline program for Oklahoma City district high school graduates who want to become teachers. Eighteen of them will go through the pipeline program, working as paraprofessionals within the district while they work toward their teaching degrees.

“There are still a large number of them that are bilingual because it’s the makeup of our district,” Melon-Tully said. “What we know about building diversity and bilingual teachers is that it’s really good for our kids. It’s working. It helps our students and it also helps our families, because having a teacher who can communicate with the children’s families is huge. It makes families feel welcome into a school building. It helps them understand how they can advocate for their kids in meaningful ways. It’s so important.”

She also noted how the program also benefits its participants, as they go from a job that pays about $16,000-$17,000 annually to a teacher’s salary that’s more than twice that, along with the college degree.

“It’s life-changing for them,” she said.

The idea behind the district’s Teacher Pipeline Program is one that’s relatively new, but is drawing interest from across the state, said Bryan Duke, the interim dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies and professor of educational sciences, foundations and research at UCO.

Duke was among several UCO officials, including its first lady, Monica Lamb, who attended the graduation ceremony.

“We have a robust set of different support systems for multiple pathways (to graduation),” Duke said. “Not only do we have the comprehensive preparation route, which includes student teaching and the traditional coursework and pathway, but all types of pathways for alternative, emergency support, paraprofessional support, so that we can try to be a solution to this problem using many different strategies.

“When (teachers) are prepared well through programs, regardless of pathway, then they’ll stay, as well, and make an impact.”

Current, recent graduates of program say they’ve found their professional calling

One of this year’s graduates is Martha Martinez-Ramos, of Oklahoma City. A Putnam City High School graduate, she started college but didn’t finish. She first worked as a teaching assistant in a pre-kindergarten classroom at Ridgeview Elementary School, then became an office worker at Wheeler Middle School and served as a substitute teacher. She decided she liked being in the classroom.

When she chose to take advantage of the foundation’s program, she started at OSU-OKC in 2020 before finishing her bachelor’s degree in general studies at UCO. Now she’s a family and consumer science teacher at Wheeler.

“It was weird being 30 in a classroom of teenagers (at OSU-OKC),” she said. “The technology, oh my goodness! The line has been very curvy and zig-zagged. But I am here and I am ready to graduate. I’m excited! I have a job and a degree. The wonderful thing about the pipeline is that it leads you to a job. It’s usually at a school you’re already familiar with. The kids know you and the kids are excited with you.”

Other graduates have similar, yet unique, stories. Two of them — Lenina Wright, a fourth-grade teacher at Quail Creek Elementary School, and Clara Sanchez, a third-grade teacher at Fillmore Elementary School — shared their stories while serving as graduation speakers this year.

“We understand that the path you have taken to become proud OKCPS teachers is the road less traveled,” Wright said. Sanchez followed: “The good news is, through this teacher pipeline program, more and more men and women, just like each of us, have made the decision to go to, or go back to, school and earn our degrees and certifications.”

The teachers produced by the program fill a definite need within the district, Melon-Tully said, which makes it an easy sell when she asks for funding from private donors. Among the entities that contribute are Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., whose president, chairman and CEO, Sean Trauschke, participated in the ceremony.

“The Teacher Pipeline Program is about changing lives — changing the lives of paraprofessionals pursuing their teaching degrees and changing the lives of the students that will be forever impacted by these teachers,” Trauschke said. “We’ve supported this program from its inception because it strengthens communities and creates better educational opportunities for students in OKCPS.”

The program’s retention rate would be the envy of similar programs in the private sector — all but one of the 25 graduates have remained employed with the district, and that person left only because of a move necessitated by her spouse’s job transfer, Melon-Tully said.

“We are recruiting people who want to do this,” she said. “They’re already part of the culture of the school district. They’re already embedded in their school. A lot of them have children going to our district. They don’t want to leave. We give them this opportunity to earn a college degree and be a teacher — they’re not looking to leave. They’re Team OKCPS. This is a trained teacher coming into the classroom and they’re already part of the district.

“Does this fill every need we have for teachers? No. But is this a really strong tool in our toolbox? Absolutely.”

As Martinez-Ramos was recognized during the ceremony, her family and friends cheered and tooted horns, sounds often heard at graduation events across the country. She said she feels like she’s found her professional calling as a teacher.

“I went to OKCPS when I was a kid, and I had some really fantastic teachers,” she said. “I’m still friends with them on Facebook. Now they get to see me be a teacher and they say, ‘We knew you had it in you!’ I love that, because I didn’t see that in myself. I didn’t think I could be a teacher. … I was happy being the assistant. I’m happy being a teacher now.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Public Schools using unique program to grow its own teacher pool