The University of Southern Mississippi has received $3.8 million from the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOL). The award was granted after USM became the first registered Teacher Apprenticeship Program in Mississippi.
Southern Miss applied and became the first registered teacher apprenticeship program in Mississippi in Spring 2024. The teacher apprenticeship program is an opportunity for students to earn money while they teach as a part of their internship. The students are employed by the school district but they also receive instructions for their job online. The grant is going to help support students by providing scholarships, appropriate technology, and other required resources. The grant is also going to provide support for the districts that host the students.
“USM has the first registered teacher’s apprenticeship program in the state,” Andrea Krell, the director of teacher’s residency, spoke on the subject. “What that means is that our students will have the opportunity to earn while they learn. So, they can serve as teacher’s assistants in local elementary schools while they are receiving related instruction from our online elementary ed program. But the great news about this is we have a 3.8 million dollar grant from the Department of Labor. That will allow us to grant them scholarships, additional support, and technology support to help ensure they are successful in their program.”
The grant also provides support to the school districts that host the students. The support for the host schools includes support for the student mentors, which can be used to provide professional development to the apprentices and the faculty. This helps form a reciprocal relationship between the host schools and the university where they are both supporting one another.
Dr. Donielle Stephens, the director of Educational Field Experiences, also commented on the school districts benefiting from the grant. “Not only are there support and resources for the students, there are also support and resources for districts that agree to host our apprentices. Some of those resources include support for the mentors that are supporting our students. They can use it to provide professional development for their faculty and our apprentices. So, there are multiple ways we can support them while they help support our students.”
This grant can be a huge relief to the teacher shortage in Mississippi. Last year, the state of Mississippi was almost 2800 teachers short of the total teachers that they needed. This grant can provide more incentives for students to go into the teaching field because of better training and resources and help them be better teachers when they do start teaching professionally.
Southern Miss is planning to train over 300 teachers over the next four years using the grant. The university is also planning to reach out to up to 24 school districts in the first semester, and 24 more in the second semester, and grow it by 5% per year after that.
If anyone is interested in becoming a teacher, Southern Miss has a lot of options for that. Southern Miss offers Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in teaching to students.
