newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks North Star Borough School District program is giving employees the chance to head back to the classroom and giving the school district a way to defend against teacher turnover.

The two-year program, called Support Staff to Certification, gives the district’s nonteaching employees the opportunity to earn their teaching certificate at the University of Alaska Fairbanks while working their normal jobs. The district’s nonteaching jobs include counselors and classroom aides among others.

Clarence Bolden, executive director of human services at the school district, said the program identified possible teaching needs the district will have in two years, and how they could fill those voids. He said areas of concern are special education, math, social studies, English and music, where shortages could be on the horizon.

“We in the district know that better employees come from employees,” he said.

The program is open to school district employees who have at least a bachelor’s degree, a desire to become a teacher and a temperament suited to teaching. Participants’ schedules are made more flexible to accommodate their jobs and studies.

The program is in its second year, and the inaugural participants are midway through their certification courses. The participants are working toward certification in secondary education.

Bolden said seven employees were originally chosen, and four have returned this year to start student teaching.

One of the participants is Bao Do, who works at North Pole Middle School. He will start student teaching at the school, which he said fulfills one of the goals of the program — to minimize the disruption classes have on the participants’ lives.

“The program gives me the opportunity to be a teacher without giving up my job as support staff,” Do said.

Currently, Do’s job requires him to help teach life and study skills to students. He also provides student assistance and drug and alcohol education. When he completes the program, he will be certified to teach biology and life skills.

Typically, people working toward their certification have to quit their jobs for a year to take time to complete the process. Do said the school district’s program offers a smaller sacrifice during a longer period of time.

There is no promise of employment at the school district after completion of the program, and the district does not pay for employees’ education. Participants also are not obligated to take a job offered to them by the school district.

Teachers and principals who graduated from programs are more likely to stay in-state, according to a study conducted by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage. But the study also found that only 13 percent of teachers who entered Alaska schools between 2000-2005 graduated from Alaska colleges.

The Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, along with other urban districts in the state, has seen its teacher turnover almost double between 1999 and 2007. Alexandra Hill, an ISER research associate and co-author of the report, said although urban turnover has increased, the rate is comparable and in some cases better than midsize cities’ turnover rates.

Despite efforts by school districts, universities and other educational organizations, the state’s turnover rates have roughly stayed the same since 1999.

According to the report, turnover is inevitable as teachers retire, quit teaching or move. It can also have a positive effect. Turnovers create room for new teachers and new ideas. But most educators believe that 20 percent or higher turnover becomes a problem.

That’s the case in rural Alaska districts, where the turnover rate is more than double that of urban areas.

During the nine-year period of the study, the average turnover in rural areas was about 22 percent, compared to urban school districts’ rate of 10 percent. Rural teachers deal with harsh climates, high living costs, difficulties and costs of travel, limited access to medical care and a shortage of good housing, which contribute to a higher turnover.

Hill said many of the factors in rural areas cannot by improved by school districts, such as distance between a teacher’s school and home, but there are things can be done. The report highlighted the Bering Strait School District, which reduced its turnover rate from 30 percent to 20 percent in recent years.

Superintendent Jim Hickerson said three of the largest changes the district made to attract teachers were changing the teaching model, improving teacher housing and incorporating rewards and incentives to promote longevity in the school district.

The changes were formed after reviewing teachers’ entrance and exit reviews to see what teachers needed for retention.

Combined with positive word-of-mouth, recruiting at Outside job fairs and an informative Web site, Hickerson said he has been receiving interested calls from teachers who want to apply for the school district.

About five years ago, the average stay of teachers at the Bering Strait School District used to be four years, but Hickerson said the length has now increased by a year or two.

Hill and Diane Hirshberg, who co-authored the study, summarized the state’s turnover situation and found that lack of special education was a statewide problem. Half of new special education teachers are gone within four years.

They also found the more experience a teacher has, the more likely they will stay. Turnover of first-year teachers was high in urban and rural areas.

Hill said several ongoing and recent changes to the Alaska education system contribute to turnover. Some believe that the 2005 change in the teaching license system has affected turnover rates. Teachers certified after 2006 have to complete two state-graded performance reviews. Although it is too early to report an effect, rural superintendents believe new teachers would rather leave than complete the reviews.

Another factor affecting turnover is salary. Alaska teachers’ pay has traditionally been higher than the nationwide average to compensate for living costs, but the gap between Alaska and the rest of the U.S. has narrowed.

“It’s not particularly attractive to teaching candidates looking for jobs,” Hill said.

Moving to any part of Alaska can prove to be a shock for out-of-state teachers. An advantage of the Fairbanks school district program is that employees have become invested in the school district and the city, Bolden said. For example, Do has worked for the school district since 2000 and came to Alaska as a Vietnamese refugee.

“When you move somewhere, you build roots there,” Do said.