COE Recruitment Efforts Take a (G)STEP in Positive Directions

As part of the GSTEP vision, the College of Education (COE) began several new initiatives aimed at recruiting high quality teacher candidates into its programs. The initial vision was to create infrastructure and coordinate programs to recruit, support, and retain students in teacher education programs at UGA, with a particular focus on diversifying our student population.

Recruitment plans have focused on recruiting students from Arts and Sciences content areas. These efforts complemented the work of GSTEP Curriculum Teams and resulted in the development and institutionalization of several official dual degree offerings between The College of Education and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Students can now major in mathematics/mathematics education, biology/science education-biology, history/social science education, English/English education, or French, German, Latin, or Spanish/foreign language education. These new dual degree programs typically require only a minimal amount of extra coursework in addition to traditional single degree program requirements. Information sessions and publications have been produced to promote these programs, and other strategies are planned to get the word out to students about this opportunity for them to broaden their career options. The dual degrees website is www.franklin.uga.edu/dual_degrees.

Diversity has also been at the center of recruitment efforts at the College of Education. The most exciting diversity recruitment effort has resulted in at least 50 bilinguals (mostly Spanish/English speaking) pursuing teacher certification through the Teachers for English Language Learners (TELL) program. This program awards scholarships to bilingual individuals interested in becoming teachers. Most of the participants are non-traditional students who have been in the workforce and are interested in a career change. One TELL Scholar, Javier Zapata, had been working in Athens for two years for Even Start, a program with the goal of family literacy. "Since I arrived in the United States, I had been looking to go back to school, but couldn't due to my economic situation. In addition, I didn't know how I was going to balance work and school. The TELL scholarship pays for my studies, which allows me to work at the same time because all my classes are in the afternoons at the University of Georgia,” said Zapata. For more information on the TELL Program, go to www.coe.uga.edu/tell/.

Another effort focused on recruiting diverse and non-traditional students at the College of Education is the recently grant-funded Special Education Training on the Web: Certification, Undergraduate, and Mentoring program (SPECTRUM). The goals of this program are to recruit non-certified teachers, special education paraprofessionals, and mid-career professionals into special education certification programs. “This project encourages individuals from other fields to become educators in high-need subject areas in high-need school systems,” said Alicia Davis, a faculty member in special education and co-developer of SPECTRUM. “We wanted to design a program that would work well for both mid-career changers and paraprofessionals already working in classrooms who wish to become certified special education teachers.” For more information on SPECTRUM, go to www.coe.uga.edu/spectrum/. An article about SPECTRUM can be found on COE Online News at http://www.coe.uga.edu/coenews/2005/Spectrum_Grant.htm.

Another notable development in the years of GSTEP has been the launch of the College of Education Student Ambassadors program. Student Ambassadors serve voluntarily as spokespersons for the College and the teaching profession. One Student Ambassador Jennifer Ferega said, “The greatest strengths of the COE Student Ambassadors Program are the opportunities for involvement in our university, being part of a group that is diverse in its membership, and being considered a leader figure in my college at the University of Georgia.” Student Ambassadors have enthusiastically contributed to COE events and ideas for recruitment and support of aspiring teachers. One idea born out of an Ambassador retreat was to hold a seminar featuring the GSTEP Beginning Teacher Panel. They thought this group would be helpful in addressing student questions about beginning a teaching career. The success of this event led to the development of a monthly seminar series called the Future Teacher Support Series, which was funded this year by a President’s Venture Fund grant. For more on the Future Teacher Support Series, go to www.coe.uga.edu/ftss/, and for more information on the College of Education Student Ambassadors Program, go to www.coe.uga.edu/ambassador/.

Recruitment efforts at the College of Education have grown substantially since the inception of GSTEP. As Georgia becomes increasingly diverse, the necessity for diversity of teachers in a number of high-need areas also increases. Thanks to the leaderships and ideas of GSTEP participants, the College of Education has made significant gains in creating opportunities for recruitment of a variety of individuals into high-need areas in Georgia’s schools. GSTEP has also instilled professionalism in COE students through leadership programs like the Student Ambassadors. The hope is that recruitment and student support efforts initiated through GSTEP and other partnering grants will continue and grow to meet the ever-changing needs of our state.

—Cindy Molloy