A couple of years ago, Anna Arlotta Guerrero realized that a teacher shortage was on the horizon.

Guerrero, an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Pittsburgh, said a perfect confluence of factors has led the profession down this road. The COVID-19 pandemic brought some teachers out of the profession, and now baby boomers are starting to retire, too. Still, the numbers are even more startling than Guerrero and her peers anticipated.

“Across the board, the shortages are scary,” Guerrero said. “They’re really scary.”

Between 2008 and 2019, the number of students completing traditional teacher education programs in the U.S. dropped by more than a third, according to a 2022 report by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. 

Figuring out solutions to the shortage is complicated. The AIU’s Project SEEKS SES, though, hopes to be a small part of the solution. Project SEEKS SES — a grant-funded partnership between the AIU and the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) — partners with ten area school districts to address trauma, behavior and mental health issues that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also work with higher education institutions in hopes of bolstering a local pipeline of professionals to school social work, school psychology and school counseling fields.

As part of that work, the AIU and the three higher education partners will look to facilitate pre-professional placements in the ten participating school districts. Aaron Thomas, Cornell School District’s superintendent, is excited about the possibilities of higher education partnerships.

“I think it has the potential to be very impactful,” Thomas said. 

Thomas said Cornell had a similar partnership with the University of Pittsburgh previously, when reading interns spent a year in the district as student teachers, getting their reading certificate in the process. Their impact was invaluable, though the partnership ended after a number of years, as students seeking their reading certificate lessened.

“To have them here in that capacity for a full year was extremely beneficial for our teachers, our reading specialists and most importantly, our kids,” Thomas said. “They made a great impact.”

Guerrero coordinates a teacher preparation program at the University of Pittsburgh called CASE (Combined Accelerated Studies in Education). The program requires four different teaching placements before the students get dual-certified. The placements are key in preparing students for the field, Guerrero said, as well as limiting teacher burnout.

“It helps them to go into their first year feeling really confident, which is what we need. We need teachers who can get started straight away and feel like they’ve had a lot of experiences,” Guerrero said.

“As a teacher, you can write a lesson plan or write a script, but you’re pivoting all the time because of things that happen in the classroom, positive or negative.”

Beyond preparing students for the field, placements are especially important now for various school districts due to staff shortages. 

“Every district has dealt with that in some regard. We’re feeling it with substitutes or reading interns. But I know some districts have it worse,” Thomas said. “They might not have enough special education teachers, not enough math or STEAM or foreign language teachers. We’re fortunate in that we’re considered fully staffed.”

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s become apparent that there’s a need for greater mental health support, as students deal with trauma and social and emotional setbacks.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in students who feel anxiety, students who are feeling depressed and some students who have unfortunately had suicidal thoughts,” Thomas said. 

Without proper mental health support, Guerreo said it can be hard for a student to properly learn. Project SEEKS SES will look to help in filling those gaps with greater staffing, making sure that students feel supported.

“Having people there to support the kids as they work through whatever they’re working through, that’s invaluable,” Guerrero said. “When a child comes to school, we better be ready to make sure they’re feeling welcome and loved. That’s what’s going to help them be able to learn more, and to feel confident and good about themselves.”