Teacher Shortage is “Big Priority” According to Education Deputy Secretary

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten visited New Jersey schools this week as part of a nationwide tour designed to highlight how schools are best spending COVID relief funds.

While at Newark’s East Side High School on Wednesday, Marten highlighted the district’s use of the American Rescue Plan funds to create its “grow-your-own” teacher training program amid a serious state and national teacher shortage.

The program recruits students to take college credits while in high school, and then complete their education at Montclair State University, the Red Hawks Rising Dual Enrollment Program. Students are not tied to the decision as they can continue as education majors at the university or choose a different path after high school.

High schoolers who earn at least 30 college credits and maintain a 3.0 GPA are guaranteed admission to Montclair State University in the Red Hawks Rising Teachers Academy, said Dr. Mayida Zaal, Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the university and a co-founder and leader of the program.

Pushing for a diverse teacher pipeline is a national and state priority. Gov Phil Murphy has allocated $1.3 million in the 2022-23 budget to diversify the pool of teachers and create more opportunities for teachers of color in the state.

Dr. Zaal, who is a first-generation Arab Latina with Colombian and Palestinian roots, graduated from public schools in Paterson and started her teaching career in New Brunswick.

She said she is committed to urban education.

“Having a robust pipeline of people who were willing and able to teach students in urban communities and do so from a place of care and real commitment to creating progress in those urban spaces was really meaningful to me,” she said.

Dr. Zaal was already running a Newark-based teacher residency program with Montclair State University and found that it was difficult to find young math and science teachers who would return to Newark to teach. The Red Hawks Rising Teacher Academy was created to find a solution to that problem.