UNC Board of Governors working group discusses teacher education, new scholarship

As teacher education faces increased scrutiny nationwide, the UNC Board of Governors is discussing strategies to support the UNC system’s 15 education schools — including a possible new scholarship program.

On Thursday, a working group — including board members and Gov. Pat McCrory’s senior education adviser, Eric Guckian — discussed drafted recommendations for combating declining enrollment in education programs and for filling the void of quality teachers in certain fields and underperforming school districts.

The N.C. Teaching Fellows scholarship had supported 500 education students across the state each year; students received the grant in exchange for a commitment to teach four years in state public schools after graduation.

Lawmakers restricted the scholarship's funding in 2011, and the 2015 graduating class will be the last class of Teaching Fellows.

But the group on Thursday discussed the possibility of a new scholarship program that could benefit students who commit to teaching in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, middle grades and special education — which are the state's highest need licensure areas.

Teach for America received $6 million over two years in the 2013-15 state budget, just as the Teaching Fellows scholarship was phased out. Teach for America recruits students from all majors to teach for two years in low-income school districts, and some education leaders have criticized states' decisions to allocate public funds to the organization.

Guckian, formerly head of North Carolina's Teach for America program, said he’d like to see a public-private partnership in any new scholarship.

“Having TFA's seal of approval and partnership in this is critical,” he said.

The scholarship program would be complementary to the North Carolina Teacher Corps, an initiative that launched in 2014 and includes the state's Teach for America teachers, said Alisa Chapman, vice president of academic and university programs for the UNC system.

"With all of the constant supply sources of teachers in this state, we're still challenged to get enough employed teachers for the workforce," she said. "There's no way that we'll ever — nor do I think it's the right thing to do — have one constant supply source of teachers."

Board member Ann Goodnight, chairwoman of the working group, suggested a system of reimbursement for new teachers who agree to work in the state's underserved school districts.

"(For example), if you accept employment in this eastern area, we will start paying back some of your student loans," she said.

The scholarship was one proposed strategy to make teaching a more desirable profession for North Carolina students. Chapman said her first look at fall 2014 enrollment across the system found a "more than 7 percent" drop in education students since 2013. From 2010 to 2013, enrollment had already fallen 17 percent.

Chapman said the drop between 2012 and 2013 was around 7 percent, which equated to about 1,300 fewer students across the system.

“I think we really have to operate with a sense of urgency here,” Guckian said.

Possible reasons for the decline in teacher education have been documented — North Carolina's low teacher pay ranking, the elimination of pay bonuses for master's degree earners and budget cuts that have affected working conditions in public schools.

The N.C. General Assembly raised teacher salaries by an average of 7 percent during the 2014 session, vaulting North Carolina from 46th nationally in teacher pay to 32nd.

The working group on Thursday also examined pay bonuses for teachers who further their education and teacher salaries, as well as plans for a board-sponsored education summit on Jan. 27 at the SAS Institute in Cary. The group has been meeting for about a year.

Guckian said the ultimate goal of the group is to make policy progress and ensure that North Carolina recruits and retains the best teachers possible.

Teacher education ascended the national stage in late November when the Department of Education published new guidelines deeming how education students receive TEACH grants, a form of federal financial aid for teachers-in-training.

States will now be required annually to rank their education programs based on how successful its graduates are. Only programs that receive an "effective" or "exceptional" ranking for two out of three years will be able to receive the grants for its students.

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