Camden and Rowan are launching a new effort to help paraprofessionals become teachers

They have been working in the classroom for years, hoping to get a chance to teach.

A new program launched Monday, called “Teach Camden,” will give 19 classroom aides in the Camden school district an opportunity to get their teaching credentials and start teaching by next year.

Superintendent Katrina T. McCombs said the program will offer paraprofessionals a new career path and help the district fill critical vacancies amid a national teacher shortage. Camden currently has a 7% vacancy rate with 25 openings and has struggled to hire special education, science, math, and health and physical education teachers.

McCombs unveiled the program at a news conference at Rowan University’s Camden campus on Monday with the 19 paraprofessionals selected to participate in the first year of the yearlong program. Rowan, which graduates about 500 teachers annually, will provide tutoring, mentoring, and professional development.

Camden will spend about $250,000 to help the paraprofessionals become full-time teachers. It will cover teacher preparation classes, the required New Jersey Praxis exam, and other fees. It will cost about $13,000 per student to complete the program, district officials say.

“This program has the potential to transform the lives of many,” McCombs said. “This pool of talent looks like you.”

The paraprofessionals, many with years of classroom experience, began the pathway program in July to become certified teachers. They already have bachelor’s degrees and must complete other requirements to obtain a teaching license. They get counseling, mentoring, and test-prep coaching.

Jackie Desesso, 28, a paraprofessional at the Martha F. Wilson Early Childhood Development Center for seven years, said the program will allow her “to do what I love to do,” which is teaching. Without the new pathway, it would have been both an expensive and lengthy process for Desesso to do on her own, she said.

“It just means the world,” said Desesso, of Pennsauken.

In addition to holding a bachelor’s degree, public schoolteacher candidates in New Jersey must complete at least 12 weeks as a student teacher, attend a teacher preparation program, and pass the New Jersey Praxis exam, a grueling six-hour exam. Paraprofessionals will complete each of these steps as part of the “Teach Camden” program.

The program is by far the “biggest thing” Rowan has done in Camden, said Gaëtane Jean-Marie, dean of the university’s College of Education. With its main campus in Glassboro, the university was founded in 1923 to train and educate elementary teachers.

» READ MORE: ‘The strongest talent is already in our schools’: Paraprofessionals get help making the leap to teacher

“It takes a village,” Jean-Marie said.

The inaugural class of 19 paraprofessionals is expected to complete the program by next summer. Once they obtain a license, they will transition into full-time teaching jobs, McCombs said. In exchange, they must agree to teach in Camden for five years.

Camden has about 245 paraprofessionals, an entry-level position that pays about $22,000 annually. A new elementary schoolteacher makes more than twice that.

The Camden Education Fund, a nonprofit organization in the city, started a program in 2020 to help paraprofessionals earn their teaching certificates. Some were completing coursework toward their degree or working to pass the Praxis, which often takes more than one attempt to get a passing mark.

McCombs, on Monday, spoke of her mother Eunice Young, who was in attendance. Young became a teacher after working as a paraprofessional for many years at the former Woodrow Wilson High School. She went to school at night to obtain her teaching license.

Although she believed she “never ever” wanted to be an educator, McCombs said her mother was her role model. McCombs’ daughter, Tyra, also followed in her footsteps and became a teacher.

“Here I am leading a school district,” McCombs said with a smile.

» READ MORE: Camden native says she is humbled to lead hometown school district

Jessica Fields, 35, a paraprofessional at Yorkship Elementary for seven years, believes becoming a teacher will help her move forward with her life. She wants to set an example of hard work, too, for her 9-year-old daughter.

“I’m excited. It will change my life,” Fields said. “I can be an inspiration for my child.”

Jacquelyn Smith, 46, a paraprofessional who works with fifth graders with autism at Dudley School, said she wants to become a special-education teacher. A mother of six, she has worked as a day-care provider and a youth counselor at her church.

“I guess it was inevitable for me to become a teacher,” said Smith. “I’m very excited to have my own classroom.”