Thursday April 15th and Friday April 16th Golden Apple President Alan Mather will be in White County meeting with local education leaders in the Regional Office of Education #20 to discuss the teacher shortage crisis both in Illinois and locally, and the work Golden Apple is doing to address it.
A report out last month from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents detailed just how devastating this crisis is, with 77% of school districts reporting a teacher shortage problem. Golden Apple has been on the front lines working to resolve this crisis for years by preparing, supporting, and mentoring aspiring teachers, and they also recently launched their “Accelerators Program” to help get more teachers into the classroom quickly.
Accelerators is an initiative that will expedite the preparation of highly-qualified teachers to fill positions of need in targeted communities where the need is greatest, including here in southern Illinois. There are currently 30 high-achieving college seniors and recent graduates with bachelor’s degrees not in teaching but with backgrounds such as special education, STEM and bilingual education in Accelerators’ inaugural class, and they will be prepared to enter the profession of teaching in the 2021-22 school year.
