For more than two decades, Arizona has reported statewide teacher shortages in early childhood, early childhood special education and in English language learning. In 2013, President Obama called on states to create high-quality preschool programs and make them available to all children. At that time, only three out of 10 eligible four-year-olds had access to such programs. A key factor in meeting this charge is creating a highly qualified workforce of teachers who are prepared to provide educational services to all young learners and their families.
What impact do the co-teaching and service-learning aspects of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College AmeriCorps program have on our AmeriCorps members and the communities they serve? Do service-learning and co-teaching enhance academic engagement among students in the underserved or high need schools and communities served by our AmeriCorps members?
Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College is the largest teacher preparation institution in its state and one of the most prolific in the nation. Nonetheless, between 2005 and 2017, the number of bachelor’s degrees conferred on aspiring teachers at ASU declined by 21 percent. There was a corresponding 23 percent decline in the number of teacher preparation students completing their bachelor’s degree programs between 2008 and 2016, a time when enrollment and degree confirmation for all other ASU majors increased.
How do we embed student teachers into communities surrounding the schools where they teach, so they understand and embrace teaching and learning in diverse cultural contexts?
How can we make the high-quality teacher preparation programs offered by Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College available in rural areas, such as the Gila Valley, and increase the number of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teachers in the region?
The goal is to increase the number of teachers prepared outside of Arizona’s Maricopa and Pinal counties in high-need secondary subject areas including science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The geographic focus is the Gila Valley.