This is Jennifer Gonzales welcoming you to episode 225 of the cult of pedagogy podcast.

In this episode we will be exploring two programs that have some fresh solutions to the teacher shortage for a while now, certainly since the

pandemic and multiple studies show that many states are seeing record high numbers of teacher

turnovers and vacancies. In episode 190 we explored some of the big reasons why

teachers are leaving the classroom so we won't go into them here.

Suffice it to say there are big problems, especially in some states, and those problems have

not really gone away yet. However, there are groups of

smart highly motivated people out there who are coming up with some creative ways

to address this situation, new and surprisingly

affordable pathways for training good enthusiastic teachers.

And I can't think of a better person to dig into that with me than my guest today, Kimberly Eckert.

Kim is the Dean of Oxford Teachers College at Reach University, an online program that offers job- embedded undergraduate degrees and

teacher preparation programs for current school employees, paraeducators, teaching assistance, and other school staff members who already love and know the kids in their communities and just need a little more training and education to become certified.

She's also the former state coordinator for the Louisiana chapter

of Educators Rising, a national grow your own program that nurtures middle and high

school students who want to become teachers.

In this episode, Kim and I talk about how and why both of these outstanding programs work.

My hope is that everyone listening will either know someone who might benefit from one of these programs

or that you'll be inspired to pass this information along to someone who can support the growth of these programs in your area.

Before I play our conversation, I would like to thank Edgy Badges for sponsoring this episode.

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