A Solution to the Education Crisis

As debate rages on over how to deal with the economic crisis, another crisis has gone largely unnoticed. According to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, the entire country is suffering from a shortage of teachers who are qualified and rigorously trained to effect real change, particularly within high-need and urban school districts.
But great teachers can be found anywhere: a religion major, a stay-at-home mom or a Wall Street trader all have potential. So how can we ensure that we are producing a new generation of high-quality teachers?
It is clearly time to consider new options for educating, training and preparing future teachers. This country needs to employ a new generation of learners, wherever they currently may be. The teacher shortage coupled with the current economic crisis makes a great case for the possibilities of an online degree program, especially for those entirely new to teaching.
Emory’s Division of Educational Studies offers a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program to provide initial certification and accreditation for teachers at the master’s level, a master’s degree in educational studies and a doctorate in educational studies. All of the programs offer scholarships for all students, from 75 percent aid to full-tuition grants. This scholarship program allows students to earn a higher degree or more teaching accreditation without the stress of paying large sums for schooling.
But Emory’s program is relatively small, and for all the qualified teachers who cannot move to Atlanta and put their life on hold to attend school, the options are limited elsewhere. We are restricting our pool of entrants at a time when the nation’s schools need us most.
Online degree programs do exist and offer flexibility, but schools like the University of Phoenix and DeVry University come with doubts of quality and reputation — they are often at least perceived as providing less valuable degrees for the job market. Established and well-reputed universities like Emory have a great opportunity to fill this need for a rigorous and flexible online program.
Other schools have given signs that they are starting to act. A new program from the University of Southern California called MAT@USC, offered by the Rossier School of Education, is an online MAT program that not only educates aspiring teachers, but also provides resources to help students apply for teaching credentials both in California and other states.
Through the use of familiar social media tools and interactive lectures using streaming video, animation and Web 2.0 technologies, MAT@USC has the potential to produce fresh, talented teachers. The program includes job placement, mentorship and tuition reimbursement options for students upon graduation.
The challenge associated with new programs like this one is that students are unable to actively teach in a classroom in addition to watching others teach. Aspiring teachers need those practical, hands-on experiences that cannot be found on the Web. But innovative online programs like MAT@USC also provide field-based experiences and a mentor program for all students to ensure there is a face-to-face, local element to the program.
We, as the future generation of potential teachers, have a responsibility to be more aware of the growing options for top education degrees across America. Schools wary of investing the resources necessary to launch a comprehensive program like MAT@USC can start small by integrating more new technologies into the classroom and offering more classes online.
What’s most important is that universities begin to act on the growing trend of online learning that will better prepare them to relate to and meet the needs of young students today and that, for many students, will be the best option for an advanced education degree — something that’s well worth the investment.
Article written by Stephen Hom, a Business School junior from Marietta, GA.