RALEIGH – It had nothing to do with the coronavirus, but the State Board of Community Colleges took an important step last week to expand North Carolina’s pipeline of future teachers.
The board approved two new teacher-preparation transfer degrees – an associate in arts in teacher preparation and associate in science in teacher preparation – to help address the state’s teacher shortage, especially in rural areas.
Colleges of education at state universities saw a dramatic decline in enrollment from 2010-2015. But community-college officials think they are positioned to recruit teacher candidates, including those from underrepresented groups, and encourage them to stay close to home once they complete their degrees – often with less debt than a student who spends four years at a university.
“Through these new transfer degrees and pathways, community colleges can help every community, especially in rural areas, ‘grow their own’ to help address the alarming shortage of well-qualified teachers,” said Peter Hans, President of the NC Community College System.
The degrees require 45 semester hours of general education courses and 14 hours of education courses, including one course with a focus on the science of reading instruction.
Hans said community colleges are working with UNC System and private universities to ensure smooth transfers for prospective teachers.1
IN THE ACCOMPANYING VIDEO from 2018, he discusses a pilot program between Johnston Community College and NC State University where students could complete their associate degree at the community college, then a bachelor’s degree at the university. State institutions already have a similar program for future nurses.
The program helps “find a way to hold down their student debt – because those are modest salaries at the end of the day – and a way to keep those students actually in their communities, where they’re needed the most,” Hans says.
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