Michigan Launches Special Education Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway Backed by a $1,007,235 Federal Award
The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) announced in Lansing on October 29 the launch of Michigan Apprenticeship Pathways for Special Education (MAPS), supported by a five-year, $1,007,235 award from the U.S. Department of Education, creating a new route for school employees to become certified special education teachers.
The program is open to paraprofessionals, instructional assistants, substitute teachers and other school staff. Through a Registered Apprenticeship, participants keep working at their schools while completing 576 hours of related instruction and 8,000 hours of supervised, paid on-the-job learning under certified special education teachers, earning a bachelor's degree and finishing with full Michigan teacher certification with a special education endorsement.
Apprentices keep their jobs, wages and benefits and face no out-of-pocket costs. MAPS is a partnership among LEO, the Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), Alma College and the AFL-CIO Workforce Development Institute.
The pathway builds on Alma College's existing Paraeducator-to-Special-Education-Teacher ('Para to Pro') program, and Alma College will serve as the apprenticeship's group sponsor.
LEO Director Susan Corbin and Krista Johnson, the department's workforce development director, said special education teachers are in long-standing short supply statewide, and that the pathway lets experienced school staff who already know the students and the buildings complete the transition without leaving their jobs.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 特殊教育教师与学生（资料图）。美国人口普查局摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / A special education teacher with a student (file photo). U.S. Census Bureau, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
