Longtime classroom assistants to become teachers
Thirteen classroom assistants dreaming of becoming teachers are now on the road to fulfilling that goal thanks to a fledgling apprenticeship program offered by the Taylor Independent School District.
The district recognized its first cohort of future teachers at a “signing ceremony” Aug. 11. The newly launched initiative will help Taylor ISD employees who are already working in classrooms as instructional assistants become certified teachers.
“Some have never thought that a college degree would be something that would happen for them, or that they would ever have the opportunity to be the teacher in the room and not just the support person,” said Jennifer Patschke, chief of human resources and student supports.
The state-funded program is known as The Preparing and Retaining Educators through Partnership, or PREP, Program Allotment. It was established by House Bill 2 during the 89th Legislative session and provides funding to strengthen the quality of teacher recruitment and preparation.
The program provides a debt-free education. It requires the participants to continue working full time in their current classroom jobs while taking a full schedule of college courses and attending mentorship sessions.
Students will earn their degrees through Reach University and will then be eligible to apply for a teacher certification in either early childhood through sixth grade or as a four through eighth grades generalist.
For those with no prior college credit, it may take up to four years to complete the program.
Instructional aides in the classroom are paid about $17 an hour, well below a teacher’s salary, officials said.
Earning the salary of a professional educator will be life-changing for them, Patschke said.
Superintendent Jennifer Garcia-Edwardsen told participants at the ceremony the program will benefit the entire district.
“No significant learning happens without a significant relationship. You have relationships with our kids, our family, our community and we want to invest in that,” she said.
Future teacher Cynthia Lopez has known since she was a sophomore at Taylor High School that she wanted to teach in her hometown.
After graduating in 2016, she started her journey and earned an associate degree, but life changes intervened, and she was never able to finish college and get her teaching certification.
On Tuesday, she signed her commitment to the PREP program and expects to be a fully certified teacher in two years. She hopes to teach prekindergarten students, the grade she currently serves as an instructional assistant.
Lopez said the teachers she has worked with cemented her desire to take the leap and become an instructor herself.
“Just seeing that they love their job and me being able to actually experience that with them and grow that love, just gives me hope and joy that the future is going to be even better,” Lopez said.
She added that while she had long wanted to finish her education, financially it would not have been possible without the PREP funding. Her journey will be one she hopes can inspire the youngsters in her classroom, she added.
“This is going to help me grow and grow the future with our students. It can help them be able to overcome things just as much as I have,” she said. “Honestly, that’s my goal – for these kids to become better than me. I just want to see the best for them.”
