TEACHER PREPARATION, RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
ADJUNCT, ALTERNATIVE AND EMERGENCY CERTIFIED TEACHERS The Chamber recognizes the need for adjunct, alternative and emergency certified teachers will increase. We support efforts to increase retention and make sure these teachers are as prepared as possible and as quickly as possible. We support: • Alternative pathways such as Teach for America that enhance the diversity of the teaching profession. • Educator Prep Programs (EPP) that offer micro-credentials for individuals seeking alternative teacher certifications. • Providing additional pre- and post-school year pathway preparation programs that comprehensively prepare teachers who meet state requirements. ATTRACT AND DEVELOP HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL LEADERS Top-notch school leadership by school superintendents and principals is critical to school performance, teacher retention and school culture. The Chamber supports the creation and implementation of initiatives that attract, retain and develop innovative and high-performing school leaders. • Implementing incentives, such as stipends, scholarships or salary grade adjustments, to increase completion of comprehensive professional development and reduce the timeframe it takes to complete comprehensive professional development.
Oklahoma has a teacher shortage. Oklahoma needs to improve our teacher preparation pipeline systems to train, attract and retain more high-quality teachers. We support legislation to: • Reward teacher performance and experience. • Incentivize teachers to work in high-priority areas and receive training to help them prepare for challenges facing students, such as being English language learners, living in high poverty and from urban areas. • Support specialized “grow-your-own” training initiatives such as the OKCPS Foundation Teacher Pipeline program (in partnership with UCO, OCCC, Rose State and OSU-OKC), UCO’s Paraprofessional Residency to Educator Pathway (PREP) or other Registered Teacher Apprenticeship programs and partnerships, as well as UCO’s Urban Teacher Preparation Academy for early career teachers that provides progressional development and mentorship. This includes support of programs and resources for teacher preparation and students enrolled part-time and providing public funding streams to supplement private funding initiatives already in place. This could include changing current scholarship and incentive programs to allow support for students taking fewer than 12 hours per semester. • Implement teacher retention and mentor teacher programs • Support continued investment in the “Inspired to Teach” scholarship and incentive program. • Increase access to STEM education and training opportunities. • Support adjustments to the teacher retirement system and other strategies that help encourage retention and reentry of experienced teachers and educators. • Encourage development of programs that encourage students to pursue teaching as a profession. This should include increased public relations and advertising campaigns to recruit teachers. It may also include various programs that offer students tutoring experience, such as Oklahoma’s Math Tutoring Corps, Educators Rising and Teach For America’s Ignite Fellowship. • Supporting a teacher and administrative pay system which places it best in class in the region. • Funding and encouraging the use of merit pay systems, such as the Teacher Leader Pipeline. • Mandate and fund statewide induction and mentoring programs for all new K-12 educators, providing structured support from experienced mentors during their initial years of teaching.
STATEWIDE LONGITUDINAL DATA SYSTEM The chamber recognizes the need for a robust and
comprehensive Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) as a top priority for advancing education and economic outcomes across our state. The SLDS is essential to ensuring that data- driven decisions guide educational strategies, workforce readiness initiatives and policy development to empower stakeholders, including educational institutions, employers and policymakers, to make informed choices that improve the long- term success of our students and workers. To ensure the system operates effectively, strong data governance is vital. Oklahoma is the only state that DOES NOT have a longitudinal data system, thereby placing a disadvantage on our educational decision makers and stakeholders. Data governance provides the framework of policies, standards and roles to ensure data is used and protected in a responsible manner. Data governance includes data stewardship and ownership; data quality and integrity; data security and privacy; data access and sharing; policy and standards compliance; data lifecycle management and oversight.
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