Midstate colleges work harder to get students interested in teaching

(Harrisburg) — New teacher certifications in Pennsylvania have been declining for years, and a teacher shortage could be looming.

Now, midstate colleges are trying to boost the ranks, working harder to get students interested in learning how to teach.

The sharp decline is no secret – the state certified more than 16,000 new teachers in 2012, but less than 7,000 two years later.

That has a ripple effect.

Millersville University in Lancaster County sends student teachers into high school classrooms, and Education College Dean George Drake asks them to bring a message.

“They may be interested in a lot of things, but we may have an opportunity there to talk to those who are interested in teaching or talk to those who are on the fence about whether or not they want to be a teacher, and really take advantage of that recruiting opportunity,” says Drake.

“I’m not sure that that’s ever been a part of the way we do business because until the enrollment started to decline, frankly, we didn’t need to worry about that. Now, I think, we do.”

Drake says enrollment in Millersville’s teaching certification program has dropped, just as the statewide numbers have fallen.

At Gettysburg College, education professor Dave Powell says they’ve gone from 20 to 30 graduates destined for teaching to maybe 15 in a good year.

“They hear constantly from politicians and other public figures, that their work isn’t good enough, that they’re not smart enough to do the work that needs to be done, and I think that has a definite impact on students,” adds Powell.

Powell says they’ve had to add a non-certificate minor program for other students to keep classes for future teachers filled.

“We would not be able to make it if all we did was focus on certifications. We’d end up lumping students together into a single methods course that wasn’t specific to their subject matter.”

But Lebanon Valley College has had better results.

Professor Dale Summers says 96-percent of their education students also get training in special education.

“We’ve got a niche. We fill a niche and it has really served us well in terms of keeping our student population up,” says Summers.

Summers says LVC’s special education program is very attractive to students and future employers.

“And come over to early childhood slash special education, one reason of course is being able to be marketable.”

LVC the exception, it’s unclear exactly why fewer students are pursuing a teaching career, though many have pointed to heated rhetoric around teachers, standardized testing, and more mandates.