30 Atlanta Public Schools (APS) educators will be able to pursue a master’s degree in their field at Georgia State University this summer after the Atlanta Board of Education voted to approve a three-year, $180,000 contract for the Pathways to Teacher Credentialing Project with the university.
The first cohort, which consists of 15 certified teachers and 15 provisional or paraprofessional teachers, will be able to earn a Master of Education degree to further their skills or a Master of Arts in Teaching degree at no personal cost.
“This investment in advanced degrees for teachers and paraprofessionals is a pivotal part of our strategy to provide meaningful career development levers for our very talented APS educators,” said Nicole Lawson, APS chief of human resources. “By providing and funding opportunities for our educators to further their education and expertise, we are both strengthening the instructional capacity of our schools and sending a strong signal that Atlanta Public Schools is the place for teachers and aspiring teachers to work, grow, and thrive in their careers.”
The program is only a year-long, and classes begin in June. Over the course of the three-year partnership, at least 90 APS educators would have completed the program and become more specialized in their area of expertise.
“This is a great opportunity for the district,” APS director of career development Nikki Stroud said. “We’re able to develop a growing pipeline of next level APS teachers and paraprofessionals by offering an opportunity to advance their skilled credentials.”
“They’re really investing in themselves and their craft,” she added. “They will be able to translate those skills into the classroom and help our scholars be ready for career and life.”
Candice Whitfield, a special education teacher at Crawford Long Middle School, has been an educator for 22 years (she started with APS in 2006) and has always wanted to further her education. However, the cost of pursuing a master’s degree was an obstacle to achieving that goal.
Since she was selected for the Pathways to Teaching Credentialing program, that hurdle no longer exists and she will begin pursuing her M. Ed. Elementary Math this June.
“I am a single parent, so my daughter went to college first, undergrad and graduate school,” Whitfield said. “When this opportunity came about, I saw it as a sign that it was my time now.”
Even as an experienced educator, Whitfield is looking forward to bringing what she learns in the program to the classroom. When it comes to providing opportunities like the Pathways to Teaching Credentials program to APS teachers, Whitfield says, “The more, the merrier.”
“We need more teachers with advanced degrees in the sciences, math early literacy,” Stroud said. “It’s important to retain our quality teachers because these are the individuals who are in front of our children, and we want to make sure that we have the best and brightest in front of our children on a daily basis to invest in them so that they can be their best and have endless possibilities.”