To combat teacher shortages, Phoenixville is training high schoolers to become future educators

Before entering college with hopes of becoming an educator, Phoenixville Area High School senior Christine Amalraj will have completed a student teaching placement alongside a district teacher.

It’s part of a new class intended to jump-start careers in education amid ongoing fears about the decline in the teacher pipeline — something Amalraj and her peers are acutely aware of.

“It just brings out how important it is to be an educator, especially now,” said Amalraj, 16, who already runs a STEM club for younger students and is excited about hands-on experience to help find her “teacher voice, and how to take charge … of the entire room.”

The Phoenixville class is a local chapter of Educators Rising, a national program aimed at preparing future teachers while they’re still in high school. The hope is they will join — and stick with — a career that has been battered by shortages.

“Having some exposure to the realness of what teaching is, so early on — that will help,” said Brittney Ehrenzeller, who teaches the class and is planning for students to complete teaching placements by the fourth marking period. She wishes she’d had a similar opportunity in high school: “How cool would that have been for me, to have that experience going into college?”

The program is a “grow-your-own” model, which focuses on schools training their own students as teachers. Unlike some other programs, however, Educators Rising is nationalized — with curriculum available for purchase. There are also state and national competitions for students.

While Educators Rising launched in 2015, local chapters are relatively new in Pennsylvania; last year, 15 schools across the state took part, according to the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

But interest is growing: This year, 33 school districts are participating, said Aaron Chapin, president of the PSEA, which is serving as the state’s coordinator for the program and received a $750,000 grant from the National Education Association to support districts in implementing it.

The goal is to “get some excited new teachers into our profession” as well as diversify the teacher workforce, Chapin said in an interview, citing gaps in representation of teachers of color in schools across the state.

James Lane, CEO of Phi Delta Kappa International, which oversees Educators Rising, did not have data on how his program affected teacher supply; research into grow-your-own programs, which have been expanding in recent years, is relatively limited, he said.

In an analysis of grow-your-own programs, the Brookings Institution noted research from Maryland finding that students who were exposed to teaching courses in a high school program there were 46% more likely to become teachers. But it noted other barriers to entering the profession, like pay and working conditions.

With the number of new teachers being certified in Pennsylvania down 66% over the last decade, and 2,000 vacant positions reported by school districts last year, Educators Rising won’t be a quick fix, Chapin said.

But with future expansion of the program — Chapin said more districts are interested, and the PSEA is “on the verge” of reaching agreements with some universities to offer college credit to participating students — he predicts an impact.

Even if there are only a few students per district, “we’re talking about adding hundreds of kids a year,” Chapin said.

In Phoenixville, Ehrenzeller initially started an Educators Rising program as an after-school club. Four students showed up to the first meeting.

Ehrenzeller, who found Educators Rising after looking into grow-your-own programs, questioned whether there was enough interest.

But a year later, the club grew to nearly 40 students, who helped tutor middle schoolers. “The middle school kids told us they liked working with our club better than our teachers,” Ehrenzeller said. “I was like, ‘Guys, you’re really making an impact.’”

Given the enthusiasm, Phoenixville added an Educators Rising class this year, with 17 students enrolled. All indicated they want to work in education, Ehrenzeller said.

The class uses curriculum purchased from Educators Rising; a district spokesperson said there was a “nominal” fee but did not specify the cost. “As a district, we feel the benefits to our students strongly outweigh those additional costs,” said the spokesperson, Nicole McClure.

The high school created space in Ehrenzeller’s schedule — she also teaches Spanish classes — to offer the elective.

Principal Rose Scioli said the district sees the importance in exposing students interested in teaching to as much experience as possible. “Too often people think they understand how schools work, because they’ve gone to school,” Scioli said. “My hope is that some of these bright, enthusiastic young people, maybe devoting their life to helping students is something for them.”

One afternoon earlier this month, about a dozen sweatpants-clad students in Ehrenzeller’s class discussed ethics guidelines for teachers, the differences between stereotypes and biases, and how they could challenge their own. (Other forthcoming units will focus on building a mindset, and teacher professionalism, Ehrenzeller said.)

As they went over the dates for forthcoming events, including a state Educators Rising conference at Pennsylvania State University in March, Nina Robinson piped up excitedly. “Guys,” Robinson said, “we are getting that coach bus.” The program also has a national competition; Ehrenzeller took four students to the nationals last year.

A 17-year-old junior, Robinson initially joined the Educators Rising club after having Ehrenzeller for Spanish. An aspiring teacher, she’s a little daunted by the prospect of working in a school without enough teachers. But she’s also motivated by the need: She wants to teach special education, which is in particular demand.

“You can’t teach kids without teachers,” she said.

Amalraj, who wants to be a college professor and work in the STEM field, echoed that sentiment — noting about how artificial intelligence may change the job landscape. But in education, she said, the need for teachers is “never going to go away.”