Conclusion and Early Lessons

Over the last few decades, a wide range of factors has exacerbated teacher shortages across Mississippi. It is clear from our research that leaders there understand that solutions to this crisis must be as varied and robust as its causes. State leaders are working to identify and circumvent the various, common barriers candidates face along the path toward becoming a teacher by piloting three initiatives: Grow Your Own programs to develop local teachers, a state-run teacher residency program, and a pilot program exploring the possibility for teachers to earn a license based on their performance. Though still early, these initiatives provide four key lessons that may help other states create opportunities for growing and diversifying a teacher workforce.

Pilot and evaluate initiatives before expansion. In Mississippi, state leadership and philanthropic funding have created a rare opportunity to test the impact of innovations aimed at recruiting diverse teachers who will stay in the profession and the community. The state’s PBL pilot will ideally determine if teachers’ performance in the classroom can serve as an alternative to traditional assessments. A central goal of the pilot is also to catch any potential problems with the model before the MDE develops recommendations for the State Board of Education on PBL as a statewide alternative to licensure exams.

The MTR pilot will help gauge whether residency programs are an effective tool for recruiting and placing diverse teachers in high-needs districts in Mississippi. Based on candidate completion, placement data, and retention data reported to MDE by district and IHE partners, the state will determine whether this model is worth investing in. MDE’s pilot efforts underscore the importance of testing initiatives at a smaller scale, refining the model, and evaluating outcomes before scaling. One question that remains is how the state will share insights, including what characteristics made pilots successful, in ways that will strengthen existing initiatives and help to forge new ones.

Adopt a data-informed strategy. While Mississippi is collecting data on its MTR and PBL pilot, a critical question it faces is how it will improve its collection and use of teacher workforce data more broadly. MDE is working with Mississippi First, an education policy nonprofit, on a study of the teacher pipeline to help identify leaks and solutions. Currently, MDE uses multiple metrics to track teacher shortages including voluntary district surveys and the number of emergency credentials issued, but it does not publicly report these numbers.¹ Ideally, all states should endeavor to report teacher shortage data to help inform the public and drive decisions around how to best target resources.

Additionally, any state should be able to determine whether GYO and residency candidates not only graduated, received their certification, and obtained teaching positions, but also how long they stay in the profession and what impact they have on students’ college and career readiness. This requires an extensive data collection and sharing effort on the part of IHEs, LEAs, and SEAs. Unfortunately, this effort is hampered by Mississippi’s current data infrastructure.² Like in other states, teacher workforce data collected in the state reside in different agencies (chiefly IHEs and LEAs) and are not readily available to the SEA or the public, making it challenging to tell where innovations are needed and where they are making an impact.

Establish a plan for short- and long-term funding. As Mississippi’s work shows, innovations in testing aimed at recruiting more teachers of color require resources. An influx of grant funding is allowing MDE to pilot new approaches to attracting and preparing more teachers and to gauge the impact of those efforts. However, the state will need to plan how to sustain these new programs, including by exploring strategies for compelling lawmakers to finance initiatives aimed at strengthening and diversifying the educator workforce.

The performance-based licensure pilot has been found to be a relatively low-cost strategy, with the majority of spending going towards staffing at MDE to help oversee and refine the program and professional development series for teachers in the program. On the other hand, Grow Your Own programs and residencies require more substantial and consistent funds to provide adequate financial support to candidates such as tuition assistance, scholarships, living stipends, and the cost of testing. They also need funds to hire specialized personnel who can provide the full array of wraparound supports including advising, coaching, and mentoring, as well as staff who can contribute to program operations.

Cost-sharing between partners has emerged as a strategy for sustainability of GYO programs and teacher residency programs.³ For example, districts may tap into federal and local funds, universities may discount tuition, and legislators may allocate funding for full or partial scholarships. These types of cost-sharing strategies can be facilitated through formal partnerships that designate what each entity will contribute. Residency programs are estimated to have an average cost of $50,000 per candidate, but range from $37,000 to $84,000.⁴ The cost of GYO programs has not been calculated in recent years, but a 2001 study estimated the cost to prepare paraeducators to become teachers ranged from $14,814 to $22,855 at a public institution and from $41,736 to $49,350 at a private institution.⁵

More research is needed to examine how GYO programs and residencies are diversifying funding sources at the district, university, and state levels and the role of federal funding in supporting these programs. And now there is also the looming question of whether budget cuts that may result from the current COVID-19 crisis will impact the ability of stakeholders to participate in GYO and residencies.

Promote collaboration and coordination. Strong collaboration and coordination were common and essential elements across all three of Mississippi's initiatives. To ensure the success of the PBL pilot, MDE worked closely with districts to co-create a model that could be adapted to local needs. To this end, it also employed the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders—including students, teachers, and parents—in the early stages of the development process.

The MTR pilot similarly hinged on the collaboration of various partners, including higher education institutions, districts, MDE, candidates, mentors, and the pilot funder. This collaboration was achieved by clearly articulating the roles and responsibility of each of the partners at the outset of the initiative. The MTR pilot also made it clear that meaningful connections across programs are critical. Residency programs in Mississippi, by attending common meetings organized by MDE and NCTR, have established a network to share best practices, creative approaches, and solutions to problems of practice.

When it comes to GYO efforts, the state brought together a task force of district stakeholders to propose helpful recommendations for promoting programs across the state. These efforts are still taking root and local programs continue to operate in relative isolation and with limited state support. Still, local districts and institutions of higher education are working to develop meaningful and formalized partnerships to implement and sustain these programs. What will need additional attention is how Mississippi and other states are working to incentivize partnerships and forge statewide networks between local programs.