Special education teacher Rania Paraskeva works with a student at Island Lake Elementary School in Shoreview. Paraskeva was part of the School of Education’s Work and Learn program, a teacher preparation program that partners with school districts to provide a pathway for participants to earn their teaching license in special education while continuing to work in the classroom.
Partnering with schools to fill a critical shortage
Mark Zuzek, superintendent of Intermediate School District 917, said partnering onWork and Learn with St. Thomas is the “most important collaboration” in which he’s been involved during his more than 25 years as a school administrator. “When I was looking for a partner for developing a ‘grow your own’ cohort to help paraprofessionals attain licensure as special education teachers, I wanted a partner that could be in it for the long haul and develop a program that could be repeated again and again,” Zuzek said. “I also wanted to help solve the special education teacher shortage for the benefit of students throughout the state of Minnesota. “The current scale of the shortage is not geographically isolated nor small enough to be met within one or two academic years,” he added. “This effort needs to be sustainable and replicable.” The program continues to grow. In 2020, it added partnerships with the Shakopee School District along with Intermediate 288 and Anoka-Hennepin. In addition, the School of Education received a $72,000 Reimagine Education grant from the Minneapolis Foundation to support the Robbinsdale Area Schools’ Work and Learn program that kicked off this spring. “Work and Learn happened because of our presence in the community,” said Dr. L. Lynn Stansberry Brusnahan, chair of the School of Education’s Department of Special Education. “Barbara Jo works diligently to ensure we are abreast of the needs of our schools. When schools wanted to do something
The School of Education supports teachers through a variety of partnerships with school districts, including the Work and Learn program, that allow them to “grow their own” educators by investing in people already working for them. Work and Learn provides a pathway to teaching for district employees (Tier 1 teachers, Tier 2 teachers and paraprofessionals) who are dedicated to education, are current or prospective employees of one of the partner districts and have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. At the end of the two-year program, participants can earn an ABS license with the ability to easily add a master’s degree or other licenses. According to the 2021 Minnesota Teacher Supply and Demand Report, special education is the first of three areas where the demand of teachers is highest with the lowest supply. The districts also identified the licensure areas with unfilled positions, and one of the areas identified most was “special education” (which includes ABS licensure). The first Work and Learn cohort started in fall 2019 after a year of planning among the School of Education’s Department of Special Education and members of partner districts: Intermediate School Districts 916 and 917, and District 196 (Rosemount, Apple Valley and Eagan).
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