We believe that Oklahoma’s educational crisis boils down to a single issue: the quality of human capital in our schools.
A statewide teacher shortage: In 2019, the State Board of Education approved nearly 3,000 emergency teaching certificates this year.
Falling numbers: Teacher preparation program enrollment in Oklahoma has dropped 24% since 2003. Experts estimate that 9,000 teachers will be eligible to retire in the next 3 years. Nearly 11% of Oklahoma teachers are lost to neighboring states every year.
Retention: Data shows the majority of teachers in Oklahoma leave the teaching profession between years 2-5.
The Teaching & Leading Initiative of Oklahoma partners with school districts to improve the quality of human capital through high quality professional learning, teacher recruitment, teacher development, and school leader development.
The initial teacher training pilot occurred over three years at Collegiate Hall Charter School where 70% of teachers had no previous teaching experience.
Pilot 2 started in July 2018 with 10 teachers from Broken Arrow Public Schools and Cleveland Public Schools.
Become a Partner School
TLI works closely with schools or districts in 3-5 year partnerships. Partners schools should:
Determine the overall human capital strategy and identify major district needs
Articulate their core values and high quality teacher and leader candidates
Identify key instructional skills that they deem essential to teaching their student population
Be able to support the development of teachers and leaders through time, financial, or human resources
Currently, TLI is seeking sites to join Cohort 2 of TLI Fellows (novice teachers) and a pilot group of school leaders to contribute to the overall training materials. If you are interested in becoming a partner school, please contact us here.