The College of Education at historically Black Virginia State University has announced the establishment of an innovative program to address a teacher shortage in the Richmond and Petersburg public schools.
In the new teacher residency program, graduate students will co-teach and earn a master’s degree in education within one year, while gaining real-world experience in a classroom under the supervision of a teacher. Students will earn their degrees and teaching certificates at no charge. The program is funded by “I Too Teach” grant from the Virginia Department of Education.
The primary goal of the “I Too Teach” grant program is to increase the number of highly qualified teachers of color — particularly males. In addition to addressing the critical teacher shortage in Richmond and Petersburg, the program will provide Pre K-12 classrooms with culturally and linguistically diverse teachers.
Once the graduate student earns his or her master’s degree in education, they must commit to full-time teaching positions for three years in schools where the district’s population has a least a 30 percent poverty rate.
