Education Department Continues Push to Invest in Highly Effective Educators and Address Teacher Shortage
Categories: US NEWS
The U.S. Department of Education is continuing to take action to support and invest in the teaching profession and address the teacher shortage many schools and districts across the country face. The Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant program is now accepting applications for efforts that increase the pipeline of highly effective educators.The SEED program will award $65 million to support the implementation of evidence-based practices that prepare, develop, or enhance the skills of educators. These grants also will enable recipients to develop, expand, and evaluate practices that can serve as models that can be sustained, replicated, and scaled. This program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s broader commitment to supporting targeted efforts that will provide comprehensive, high-quality pathways into the profession, such as residency and Grow Your Own programs, and evidence-based professional development all focused on building and supporting a more diverse educator pipeline and combating the teacher shortage nationally.As states, districts, and schools are working hard to address the impact of COVID-19 on students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs, many of them are facing significant challenges in attracting and retaining teachers. Preexisting teacher shortages in critical areas such as special education; multilingual education; science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); career and technical education; and early childhood education have only been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—directly impeding student access to educational opportunity. Coinciding with today’s announcement, this afternoon the Department is hosting a webinar focused on “Strengthening Partnerships Between States, School Districts, and Higher Education to Increase the Number of Teacher Candidates Prepared to Enter the Classroom and Provide Immediate Support to Schools.”During the webinar, Education Department representatives will discuss Secretary Cardona’s recent call to action for states, institutions of higher education, and school districts to commit to using American Rescue Plan and other federal relief funds to help address teacher shortages. Representatives also will share how federal relief funds and opportunities through the U.S. Department of Labor can and are being used to address teacher shortages and provide support to schools by establishing or scaling up teaching residency and apprenticeship programs.