Mlive, 5/21

Help wanted: Teacher shortage hits Michigan's schools

By Brian McVicar

Across the state, many low-performing schools struggle to recruit and retain teachers. It can be seen in cities like Battle Creek, where a quarter of the district's staff has left each year for the past three years. Just this month, Flint schools announced they were short 30 teachers and are using counselors and administrators to supervise classrooms. Meanwhile, Michigan's teacher preparation programs have seen steep enrollment declines, according to federal data, leaving fewer teachers in the pipeline to fill vacancies. A partnership between Detroit Public Schools Community District and Wayne State University is working to help the district's long-term substitutes move permanently into classrooms. The program, Dream Keepers, provides an accelerated pathway for long-term substitutes in Detroit to earn a master's degree and teaching certificate. "It's about well-prepared teachers," said Leah van Belle, director of school partnerships and clinical practice at Wayne State. "We want to make sure they're well prepared, so our children are getting the teachers they really need."

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/05/michigan_beyond_teacher_qualit.html