Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Khalid Mumin told a group of students in McCaskey’s new Educators Rising program that a teaching career “is going to be wide open for you,” if they continue on their current path.
The secretary visited McCaskey on Dec. 7 to see the innovative teacher preparatory program, as well as other career and technical education offerings at the school. Workforce development, including classroom CTE offerings, is a priority of the Shapiro Administration.
“The thing about the programs that really resonates with me is, they are not programs just for the sake of having programs,” Mumin said. “The programs that I visited today, they have true workforce pathways, and that’s what we’re looking for here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Educators Rising is a partnership between SDoL and the Lancaster Education Association to address a critical teacher shortage in Pennsylvania. The PA Department of Education says the number of teachers certified annually in the Commonwealth has fallen since 2010 from 20,000 per year to 7,000. In 2020-2021, the state had more teachers on emergency permits than teachers obtaining traditional certification.
Through Educators Rising, McCaskey students can earn up to 24 credits toward a bachelor’s degree in teaching as well as practice live teaching alongside SDoL teachers. Mumin observed a peer-to-peer lesson taught by two McCaskey junior students.
“The techniques of teacher-directed learning or the teacher being a facilitator, student voice, student-centered learning, that’s what we need and we require in the classrooms, and they’re learning that right here,” Mumin said. “I’m inspired and hopeful that they follow through because there are opportunities here in the Commonwealth to teach.”
Mumin also visited McCaskey CTE programs in accounting, media studies and communication, and robotics. The tours were led by McCaskey students who shared with the secretary what opportunities they have in—and outside of—their high school classes.
“What I love the most is that the students have the confidence,” he said. “They’re building confidence right here in McCaskey High, which they can take out into the workforce.”