MCS to hire 1,000 teachers for next year

Memphis City Schools plans to hire up to 1,000 teachers next school year, some without a degree in education.

Nick Denton-Brown, director of recruitment and selection for MCS, said that an education major might not necessarily be the strongest candidate for some of the newly available positions.

"While we always have a robust crop of teachers who come to us from The U of M education college, we often still need teachers in high-need subject areas like math, science, music and foreign languages," he said.

The State of Tennessee and The University of Memphis have similar programs.

Teach Tennessee and Tigers Teach have been in place since 2005 and 2010, respectively.

Tigers Teach is based on the UTeach model, which is recognized nationally for math and science teacher preparation reform by a number of prominent organizations, including the National Research Council, the U.S. Department of Education and the National Academy of Sciences.

"Graduates who may have traditionally gone on to work as engineers, musicians, translators or in other careers can still work in their respective fields as teachers — even if they don't yet have an education degree or a teaching license," Denton-Brown said.

The U of M has 5,458 students who graduated from MCS. Only two are education majors — something Denton-Brown said is a vast contrast to the goals MCS is hoping for.

"If the local schools are hiring again, that's good news for us," said Henry Kurtz, dean of the college of arts and sciences. "We certainly have the programs in place to produce quality teachers. This year and next year will produce the first students to have completed our (Tigers Teach) program."

College graduates who have a bachelor's degree in their respective fields can seek employment through what Denton-Brown calls an "alternate-route track."

Under this plan, graduates would have the ability to teach while working towards their licensure in education. College graduates are eligible to begin teaching any subject they have at least 24 credit hours in as long as they have a 2.5 GPA.

The Tennessee Department of Education report card for MCS shows 72.6 percent of MCS students graduated from high school in 2011, up from 62 percent two years before.

Teach Memphis will hold an information session at The U of M on Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. in the River Room in the University Center.

"Students would obviously know a lot about their subject, but I'm glad they go back for their degree in education," said Allyse Anderson, an early childhood education major at The U of M.

Anderson, 23, is a teaching assistant at Hutchison School, a private school for pre-K through 12th grade and is set to graduate in December.

"It makes it more difficult for jobs among education majors, but at the same time it's great because they're hiring teachers," she said.

Denton-Brown said that while elementary education requires certification to teach at those grade levels, that isn't the case in secondary education.

"We want the strongest teacher we can find in each position. Sometimes that's through education and sometimes it's through content knowledge. We need strong teachers in music and foreign language positions and someone majoring in education isn't necessarily the most qualified."