Delaware County is one of dozens of Pa. counties facing a dire teacher shortage. This community college program is aiming to fix it.

Monica Taylor calls Delaware County Community College’s Teacher Education Program a way to “grow your own.”

When Taylor — chair of the Delaware County Council and lifelong educator — joined the council and the state board of education’s higher education council a few years ago, Pennsylvania’s dire teacher shortage was an immediate concern. Fewer young people were graduating with teaching degrees. The pandemic had brought the difficulty of being a teacher into the public eye, and students were drawn to higher-paying careers that didn’t require expensive college degrees. Across the state, school districts were feeling the pinch.

“People have been thinking differently about what their career paths are,” Taylor said.

Out of the growing teacher shortage came the idea for the dual-enrollment program that allows Delaware County high school students to take up to 38 college credits at no cost, putting them on the path toward a degree in education.

The program’s first 12-student cohort graduated this spring. Its third cohort, which will start this fall, is triple the size of the first.

Taylor and community college educators say the program has addressed many of the roadblocks to a career in education while providing a template for communities across Pennsylvania.

Across Pennsylvania and the United States, a shortage of qualified teachers has left thousands of schools scrambling to fill vacancies.

According to a report from the Penn State Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis, Delaware County saw a 10% teacher attrition rate between 2022 and 2023. During the 2023-24 school year, the state issued 519 emergency teaching permits in Delaware County. The permits require only a bachelors degree and are issued when schools can’t find fully qualified applicants.

This past school year, Delaware County had 99 teacher vacancies, according to the Penn State Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis. The center rated the county’s teacher shortage level “very high.”

Experts say a handful of factors have contributed to the ongoing shortage. Wages are not keeping up with the rising cost of living and obtaining a degree. The pandemic, in many places, made schools a public venue for political fights. Teachers have reported worsening working conditions when it comes to safety, classroom disruptions, and building trust with parents.

“COVID really highlighted how hard a teacher’s job is,” said Jean Allison, associate professor of early childhood education at Delaware County Community College.

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Students can also have a hard time visualizing what a career in education can look like, educators said. Experimenting with different career paths can be expensive, and many feel the pressure to buckle down and choose a high-paying job right after graduation.

“There are a lot of high school students that would be really, really good teachers, they’re just not aware of what it would look like to become a teacher,” said David Broderic, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.

In creating the Teacher Education Program, the college and county leveraged the college’s resources and American Rescue Plan Act funds to build a comprehensive teacher training program, complete with mentorship opportunities, fieldwork, and a tight-knit cohort model.

Courses include early childhood development, psychology, adolescent development, and English composition. Several students also complete fieldwork in a local classroom.

“We try to give them coursework that really helps them make a decision: who they want to teach, where they want to teach, what they want to teach,” Allison said.

The first cohort “got to know each other pretty well,” said John Quillen, a recent graduate of Upper Darby High School who completed the program.

Quillen was homeschooled until ninth grade, then enrolled in Upper Darby. He had considered a career in education and was drawn to the idea of earning college credits while in high school.

In addition to coursework, Quillen and his cohort were given access to career counselors, tutors and peer mentors.

“We’ve really structured it to provide students anywhere across the socioeconomic spectrum with that support,” said Richard McFadden, the community college’s dean of business, computing and social science.

McFadden said the program has helped broaden students’ understanding of the teaching profession.

“We think education is just teaching a subject matter, but it’s really learning how to deal with certain attributes and behaviors of individuals,” he said. “You’re bringing in 30, 40 students, everybody has their own personality.”

The first Teacher Education Program cohort will be dispersing across the region this fall to continue their studies and begin their careers. Some are continuing down the road to become teachers. Others are choosing another path. Delaware County Community College has a direct transfer program with West Chester University, where a number of its future educators will be headed in the fall.

Quillen is headed to Lafayette College, where he plans to study fine arts and mechanical engineering. After completing the program, he doesn’t see himself becoming a teacher, and wants to lean into his passion for behind-the-scenes theater operations.

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But administrators say this is part of the objective. While, ideally, participants would go on to become teachers, the program gives them the opportunity to explore different paths without the burdensome costs of college hanging over their heads.

“I have more experience dealing with the college world,” Quillen said. “I think it’ll be helpful in a number of ways to have done this program.”

Administrators say they want to continue scaling up the program and adjusting it to meet student needs. This year, they’re piloting an option for high-school seniors who want to take half of the credits instead of the full, two-year course. The program is part of a national wave of educational institutions and business groups rethinking what it means to go to college and receive job training.

Taylor said TEP could be “a road map for the region” as districts across Pennsylvania work to build the next generation of teachers. She called the program a “forward-looking pipeline” that aims to “keep our most talented students here in Delco.”