Teacher Pathway Initiatives

• Audience: K-12
• Mission focus: Teachers for Tomorrow and similar K-12 teaching-specific academic programs help increase access, knowledge and enthusiasm for the Virginia licensed teaching profession. Students from TFT can join our Leading Educators Access Program (LEAP) to continue engaging with professional development opportunities from Day 1 in their undergraduate program.
• Partners: Teachers for Tomorrow (TFT) teachers and districts
• Program benefit: $1,000 scholarship for first year in B.S. Ed. program
• Webpage: Teachers for Tomorrow - LEAP Program
• SOE Contact: soeinfo@vcu.edu

• Audience: K-12
• Mission focus: Black, Indigenous, People of Color / Under Represented Minority (BIPoC/URM) increase enrollment
• Partner: Chesterfield County Public Schools
• Program benefit: Application fee waiver and additional Chesterfield County and School of Education mentorship and career support throughout a student's B.S. Ed. program.
• Webpage: https://www.oneccps.org/page/mirror-me
• SOE Contact: soeinfo@vcu.edu

• Audience: English Language, Multilingual K-12 student and community engagement
• Mission focus: Develop specific multilingual resources to meet partner needs, engage communities and families to celebrate multilingual students, provide support for EL classrooms, and increase Latinx and multilingual/EL student enrollment at VCU.
• Partners: Dinwiddie County Public Schools (Dinwiddie High School), Henrico County Public Schools (J.R. Tucker High School), Richmond Public Schools (Thomas C. Boushall Middle School and Lucille Brown Middle School), Petersburg City Public Schools (Vernon Johns Middle School)
• Program benefit: Federal Work Study eligible students at VCU are able to volunteer and gain professional experience in our K-12 school districts by leveraging their creativity and personal experience to benefit the success of other multilingual students in Region 1 K-12 schools. Learn more about the program here.
• Webpage: Multilingual Ambassador Program
• SOE contact: soeinfo@vcu.edu

• Audience: Community college students, adult learners, G3 initiative support
• Mission focus: Black, Indigenous, People of Color / Under Represented Minority (BIPoC/URM) affinity community embedded to increase enrollment
• Partners: Virginia Community College System (VCCS) / Richard Bland College of William & Mary students
• Program benefit: Application fee waiver and opportunities to engage in professional development and networking opportunities once accepted into their licensure track program.
• Webpage: https://soe.vcu.edu/admission/transfer-students/
• SOE Contact: soeinfo@vcu.edu

• Audience: Adult learners looking for a career change and who want to give back to their communities, military connected, etc.
• Mission focus: Increase future Virginia licensed teachers
• Partners: Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) / School Districts
• Program benefit: Provides the fastest route to teacher licensure for prospective teachers who come from other careers, program focus on equity and social justice, program design to meet the needs of urban and high needs schools, class schedule designed for working professionals.

• Audience: Current VCU SOE students in the final two years of course work
• Mission focus: The goal of the Innovative Teacher Pipeline is to prepare teachers to best support education excellence and equity, particularly for black and LantinX schoolchildren.
• Partners: School Districts
• Program benefit:
• SOE Contact: soeinfo@vcu.edu

• Audience: Prospective students looking for a yearlong residency experience
• Mission focus: To recruit, prepare, support, and retain extraordinary, inspiring teachers and teacher leaders who are committed to serving students in high-needs schools for the long-term.
• Partners: Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) / School Districts
• Program Benefit:
• Webpage: teachrtr.org
• SOE Contact: teachrtr@vcu.edu

“‘Thank you’ and ‘wow’ are the first words that come to mind. This is something that I am going to need because my school and class have a high need. Classes in the Department of Teaching and Learning are part of the reason I wanted to teach [at John M. Gandy Elementary School] and feel so passionately about being in a Title I school.” – Hannah Kinser (M.T. '21)

Today, the VCU School of Education Teacher Preparation Programs prepare highly effective teachers. Our vision is to support our alumni through their first three years, providing the tools necessary to remain in the teaching profession and reduce the teacher shortage. The Schaberg New Teacher Support Program (NTSP) is a university-based comprehensive teacher induction program that provides a research-based set of early career supports designed to stabilize and diversify the educator workforce in partner school divisions, creating greater community cohesion and student outcomes.

Having a carefully selected, trained mentor reduces the chances of a teacher exiting the profession by 27% to 32%. Most Virginia teachers only have an assigned mentor for their first year, leaving novice teachers in their second and third years without critical early career support.

The Schaberg New Teacher Support Program provides mentoring and coaching supports for the first three years of employment. In addition to these supports, each new teacher who participates in this program receives $500 to purchase classroom supplies.

The Schaberg New Teacher Support Program is available to all new teachers who graduated from a VCU teacher preparation and licensure program who accept positions in select Petersburg and Richmond Public Schools.