Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has created a new initiative aimed at helping train, educate and license new teachers so that they can join the school district.
On Wednesday, BCSC announced the launch of its "Pathway to Teacher Licensure Program." Individuals seeking to learn more about the program can attend informational sessions at Columbus North High School on June 23 and 24 at 5:30 p.m., or a virtual session via Zoom on June 22 at 5:30 p.m.
According to a public release, paraeducators in the pathway will work full-time in classrooms while also earning their bachelor’s degree in education at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College via online learning.
BCSC will pay for tuition and textbook fees under the conditions that participants maintain a certain GPA, "meet support staff evaluation goals", and remain with the school corporation until their degree is complete.
Upon graduating and receiving their licenses, participants will be guaranteed a teaching position and are expected to commit to remaining with BCSC for two years.
The cohort of paraeducators will meet regularly, take online courses together and receive mentor support from both the college and BCSC. Faculty members interested in mentoring paraeducators will be able to apply to do so later this fall.
As they work in the classroom, paraeducators will take on some teaching assistant duties and are also "expected to apply course learnings in direct academic work with students and complete field placement activities and student teaching while working in BCSC," school officials said.
Paraeducators will train to gain teacher licensure in the context of BCSC and be able to attend professional development opportunities.
School officials said that while the program is designed for individuals who have not earned college credit, "candidates who have credits of some kind, an associate degree or even a bachelor’s degree unrelated to education, can also be considered."
Possible applicants could include individuals already working in education (such as teaching assistants), recent high school graduates or individuals who have experience working with children or youth, school officials said.
"At BCSC, we want to be the place where a broad mix of talented people want to come, to stay and do their best work with a diverse student body," school officials said. "We value diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, ability, national origin and all the other fascinating characteristics that make us different."
The school corporation said that the new program will help provide teachers with "highly qualified, motivated and dedicated" support staff after a challenging school year, address recurring teacher shortages and "grow a broad cohort of teachers trained in the systems, culture and high expectations of the district."
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Information sessions will be held June 23 and 24 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Columbus North High School’s large group instruction room.
There is also online option available via Zoom on June 22 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. A link will be emailed upon RSVP.
RSVP is preferred, and the form to do so (for any of the three sessions) can be found at bit.ly/3g3ZvCg.
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