10-16-2022 EDU - Flipbook - Page 6
6 The Baltimore Sun | Sunday, October 16, 2022
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
M.A.T. Program helps address teacher shortage
University of Maryland Global Campus
N
ot everyone knows what profession they want to pursue from
a young age. Others have a successful career for a decade or
more, and then decide to switch
gears and challenge themselves with a career
change. For these types of professionals, historically the University of Maryland Global
Campus (UMGC) has been a haven, as its
online model and tradition of educating
individuals around the world is a perfect fit
for working professionals and career changers.
UMGC’s
innovative
educational
approach is also a perfect fit for those
individuals who have decided to embark
on a teaching career. UMGC’s Master of
Arts in Teaching is “designed for students
with a bachelor's degree who want to earn
Maryland teaching certification in secondary education in subject areas including English, history, social studies, biology, chemistry, earth/space science, physics,
math, computer science, Spanish, French,
German, and Mandarin Chinese,” according
to UMGC’s website.
According to Dr. Monica Simonsen,
program director of UMGC’s Education
Department, most of the program’s students
are “career changers who want to learn how
to apply their professional experience and
knowledge to the classroom. UMGC is well
prepared to help career changers, as we have
a long history of doing this, and the online
format is perfect for working professionals.”
UMGC’s MAT program is also well suited to help address the teacher shortage felt
nationwide and here in Maryland. Simonsen
says that the latest statistics show 2,000
teacher vacancies in Maryland, but says that
some districts are struggling more than others. The result, she says, is consolidated and
crowded classrooms and long-term substitute teachers fulfilling the role usually held
by a certified experienced teacher.
“One way to address the shortage is to
grant conditional certifications to aspiring
teachers who have met most of their educational requirements and place them in a
classroom. They typically have three to four
years to complete all of their requirements
or risk having their certification revoked,”
Simonsen says. She notes that this fall’s
incoming cohort – the largest since she has
been at UMGC – consists of 90% of students who are conditionally certified teachers. “We’ve had to pivot our educational
approach as previously, we’d educate the
students with the understanding that they
is not feasible for these students.
UMGC’s online MAT program is well suited to help address the teacher shortage felt nationwide and
here in Maryland.
would be placed in a classroom in a couple
of years, but now our students are already
teaching in the classroom.” She says that the
MAT’s intense one-on-one coaching element has been especially important during
this change.
Simonsen says that UMGC’s MAT program currently has students in school districts across Maryland, as well as out of state
students and even those teaching on military bases overseas. She says that the teacher
shortage is especially bad in rural districts of
Maryland – Dorchester County, for example
has a 18% teacher vacancy rate – so UMGC’s
online format is perfect for those areas, as
traveling across the Bay Bridge to attend
classes at a traditional brick and mortar
campus setting in the Baltimore metro area
UM GC .ED U
“Many of our students are craving the
stability found in the educational profession,
while others helped their own children with
their schoolwork during Covid, becoming
quasi teachers themselves during remote
learning, so they became interested,” she
says. The MAT program is also a good fit for
veterans, she says, as many of them already
possess key skills such as organization and
time-management. “One of our students
was a physicist for 15 years for NASA who
decided to pivot to teaching.” She also notes
that many immigrants come to the U.S. with
professional credentials that may not transfer, so teaching becomes an option.
Simonsen notes that for those students
who are considering a career change to
teaching, being a substitute teacher is a great
way to try out the profession and can be
lucrative, too.
When asked about some of the reasons
for the teacher shortage, Simonsen points
to several factors. One is the normal attrition due to retirements. Teacher salaries
is another barrier for some, while some
teachers retired early after burning out due
to constant changes from remote to hybrid
to in-person learning due to Covid. “Also,
teachers have a lot of transferable skills that
can be applied to other professions, and with
many jobs still allowing remote work with
flexibility, that is a draw, too,” she says.
One positive development that may help
address the teacher shortage, Simonsen says,
is the passing of the Blueprint for Maryland’s
Future legislation in Maryland that includes
comprehensive changes to Maryland’s early
childhood and public schools with a significant increase in educational funding.
The program also increases the salary by
$10,000 of National Board Certified educators who are actively teaching in Maryland
public schools. In addition, National Board
Certified Teachers working in a low performing school will receive an additional
$7,000 annually.
Although UMGC’s program is online,
students are not isolated. The virtual coaching sessions provide an opportunity for
students to record themselves teaching a
class, and then getting critical feedback
from their coaches on ways to improve. “We
may also have a situation where we have
three students – one in Baltimore City, one
in Charles County and one on a military
base in Germany – and they can share their
videos with each other to learn from each
other,” Simonsen says. “This can be helpful
as teachers develop their own teaching styles
… a retired military officer, for example,
may have a different teaching style than
someone who worked for 20 years as a social
worker. Our goal is to support them and
create pathways for those who want to teach
here in Maryland.”
Learn more about UMGC's Master of Arts
in Teaching and other graduate programs at
umgc.edu.
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