Partnering and Persisting

For the past two years, I was thrilled to work on Project PREP (Partnering to Renew the Educator Pipeline), a partnership between the University of North Florida and Clay County District Schools that provided the structure to prepare and retain teachers and teacher leaders. Funded by a grant from the US Department of Education, Project PREP was designed as a five-year effort—but the Trump administration cut off our funding in February. The grant covered the costs across five components, including a high school academy for students to take prerequisite teacher preparation courses, stipends for initial teacher training and for participation by early career teachers in an induction program, and funding to support earning master’s and doctoral degrees for teachers and administrators. This work spanning from high school through doctoral studies was unique, and we were excited about tracking students to see what aspects of the support were most effective. I led the doctoral component for Project PREP. Our scholars were studying problems of practice in Clay County focused on teacher education, induction, and retention.

A central goal of Project PREP was diversifying the teacher workforce. Clay County District Schools is large and diverse. It serves more than 35,000 suburban and rural students in northeast Florida; about 18 percent of students are Black, 17 percent are Hispanic, 7 percent are multiracial, and 56 percent are white. Research clearly demonstrates that students perform better when they have at least one teacher who shares their racial and cultural background.* But as in most districts throughout the United States, the teachers in Clay County are not as diverse as the students.

With the loss of Project PREP, what really concerns me is that kids are not going to have certified teachers. Clay County, like all of Florida, has a severe teacher shortage. We know from the two years that we had funding that Project PREP was making an impact in Clay County. It was shifting the culture, and people were excited about it, especially the superintendent.

When the grant was canceled, the university was very generous. It found other funds to allow the four full-time Project PREP staff, who were managing the couple hundred Project PREP students enrolled at the university, to finish the semester. That gave these people a few months to find new jobs. The university also found money to fund the doctoral students’ summer courses, and it is looking for additional funds moving forward for all of the existing Project PREP students.

While the cut was a shock, we haven’t lost many students. This is a testament to the resilience and persistence of these future teachers, master teachers, and administrators. They are committed to our profession and to our kids. Many are now taking on loans and finding alternative ways to cover the cost of completing their degrees. We had an amazing celebration at the end of the spring semester (three months after the funding was cut off) with students from all components, high school to doctorate, showcasing their work.

We’re determined to continue the program, even without the infrastructure or the staff support the grant provided. We had a really rich, deep commitment from Clay County District Schools, so our partnership will continue in as many ways as possible. Thankfully, so far most PREP scholars are still pursuing education degrees. We’re going to track their progress to see if they join the education workforce. We’re also planning to track the participants in the induction program to see how it has helped with retention. One of our Project PREP doctoral students is the district’s leader for the induction program, so she’ll be able to analyze that data.

Our undergraduate and master’s students were in cohorts with dedicated courses and events that helped form communities of learners. Since we no longer have capacity to maintain the cohorts, I’m concerned about the impact of those learning communities disbanding. The school district is trying to maintain some of that structure through monthly informal professional learning community meetings, but it is a heavy lift without the grant.

Instead of cutting grants like Project PREP, policymakers should be investing in teacher preparation so educators finish college and graduate school debt-free, especially in light of the national teacher shortage. Many years ago, an Office of Special Education Programs grant from the US Department of Education allowed me to complete my doctoral degree. I was a single father, and that support made an enormous difference. This experience with Project PREP being defunded has me thinking more about how K–12, higher education, unions, and nonprofit groups that care about kids can work together. We need to find common ground for our advocacy, and I think we’ll find it in the impact that the Trump administration is having on kids and families.

Working with the Project PREP doctoral students is one of the best things I’ve done in my career. The stipends the grant provided allowed us to bring in a diverse group of brilliant scholars who have been asking crucial questions about how to support at-risk kids. These scholars’ gratitude, intellect, and passion is inspiring, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

David Hoppey, a former special education teacher and the son of educators, is a professor of special education and the director of the doctoral program in Educational Leadership at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

*For a summary of this research, see go.aft.org/e02. (return to article)

[Photo courtesy of David Hoppey]