State expands effort to hire teachers; certificate to honor students committing to education careers

Students sign pledges demonstrating their commitment to education careers at the state Capitol rotunda on Friday afternoon. They are (from left) Taysia Johnson, Kennedy Capps, Ashley Field, Le Kieu Ngo, Taylor Tiffany, Delaney Daniel and Alecea Raymond. They plan to attend Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. The event kicked off the Arkansas Department of Education’s first Educator Commitment Signing Week, to be held starting Sunday to April 20.
Students sign pledges demonstrating their commitment to education careers at the state Capitol rotunda on Friday afternoon. They are (from left) Taysia Johnson, Kennedy Capps, Ashley Field, Le Kieu Ngo, Taylor Tiffany, Delaney Daniel and Alecea Raymond. They plan to attend Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. The event kicked off the Arkansas Department of Education’s first Educator Commitment Signing Week, to be held starting Sunday to April 20.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and state education leaders are expanding efforts to elevate the teaching profession and increase the numbers of people choosing classroom careers.

At a crowded ceremony Friday in the Capitol rotunda, Hutchinson and state Education Commissioner Johnny Key -- along with 2018 Arkansas Teacher of the Year Randi House -- heralded the inaugural Educator Commitment Signing Week that starts Sunday and goes through April 20.

In the coming days, more than two dozen events in different parts of the state will honor high school students and others who sign their names to certificates committing or renewing earlier commitments "to the students of Arkansas, the teaching profession, and the future of education in Arkansas."

"Signing this commitment acknowledges your dedication to inspiring and impacting Arkansas's students through a student-focused education," the certificate goes on to say.

"Every year we celebrate when high school athletes sign to go to college to play football, basketball, baseball, whatever it is," Key told the crowd. "It's a community celebration. Sometimes it is a state celebration. How much more deserving of that type of celebration is a commitment to go into the field of education?"

A campaign for attracting and retaining people to the teaching profession goes beyond just the Department of Education, Key also said.

"We are engaged in this campaign not just as a department and not just as educators, but we are inviting our community members to engage in this process, as well, as we all work together to make sure all of our students graduate ready to be successful in their colleges, careers and in all of their community engagement."

The first Educator Commitment Signing Week comes in the aftermath of a legislative session in which Hutchinson proposed and achieved lawmaker approval of a $4,000 increase over four years to the state's minimum beginning teacher salary.

Hutchinson called the commitment-signing campaign "a big deal" way to let the public and teachers know how great the impact a teacher has on students.

"They teach our children how to be good citizens. They teach them how to be good employees and how to be good learners. Ultimately they give our children the gift of learning," Hutchinson said.

House on Friday did a countdown to the signatures: "Three, two, one, sign your commitment!" she said.

And high school seniors from Hamburg, Bryant, Cedarville and Cabot -- along with representatives from the state Education Department and from just about all of the state's colleges, schools and departments of teacher preparation -- simultaneously signed and dated their certificates.

Many of the high school students who were either at Friday's event or who will be signing certificates next week are among about 800 seniors enrolled in Teacher Cadet courses at 74 of the state's high schools.

Jeff Dyer, the Education Department's teacher recruitment and retention program adviser, anticipates the number of participating schools to grow by another dozen in the near future.

Terri Riley, the teacher cadet instructor at Hamburg High, says the course enables 14 Hamburg High seniors to work daily in traditional elementary and special education classrooms to get a sense of the work of a teacher. Three hours of college credit are available to teacher cadet course-completers, who had to have a 3.0 grade point average and a 19.0 ACT test exam to participate.

Gage Price, Hamburg High senior who expects to play football at Harding University and ultimately a coach/teacher, is one of those seniors. He signed up for the course at the last minute and wound up by chance working in a special education classroom where "everything just clicked."

The connection is evident in a video that is circulating on social media showing Price sharing his senior ring with a fourth-grade student and then giving the student a ring of his own.

Bruce Smith, director of the school of education and professor of special education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, attended the event with soon-to-graduate Dejay Avery and Mark Morrison, and sophomore Chyna Dial.

Smith said he is hopeful that the signing week events will be successful in encouraging people to go into the teaching field because the young people he encounters are so admirable.

"The people I work with make me so proud and confident in the future," Smith said.

Educator Commitment Signing Week events represent the latest addition to the Education Department's Teach Arkansas campaign to promote the teaching profession.

As part of the effort to promote the profession and the signing week activities, the Education Department is hosting Marie Ferdinand-Harris, an Olympic gold medalist and former WNBA basketball player, Monday in Pine Bluff.

Ferdinand-Harris will be the fourth speaker in the ongoing Teach Arkansas Lecture Series.

Before Ferdinand-Harris' presentation, a signing event will be held at 5 p.m. at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's Hathaway-Howard Fine Arts Center, 1200 N. University Drive. The first 200 educators will receive a free gift.

Ferdinand-Harris' presentation will begin at 6:15 p.m. at the same location, followed by a question-and-answer session at 7:30 p.m. Educators who attend the evening lecture will be eligible to receive 1.5 hours of professional development credit.

Registration is available at http://bit.ly/TALectureFour.

Metro on 04/13/2019

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