Friday, December 18, 2015

Task force offers proposals to ease Oklahoma teacher shortage

A 90-member task force is looking for solutions to a teacher shortage that currently has approximately 1,000 teachers in Oklahoma schools teaching with emergency certification:

"We know we need to target a solution for teacher shortage in order to have greater gains for the students of Oklahoma," said state school superintendent Joy Hofmeister.

The top recommendations include creating a scholarship that will pay for teacher exam fees. Right now, teachers must take three exams, costing about $500 in all.

They also suggest recognizing teaching certifications from other states and tripling the amount of time adjunct teachers can spend in the classroom.

"Due to the financial challenges we face in our state, it only highlights the importance of moving forward with these nine recommendations since the majority of them don't have a hefty price tag associated with them," Hofmeister added.

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