Grand Canyon University was selected to a pilot program for apprenticeships to try to reduce Arizona’s teacher shortage, the Arizona Department of Education announced earlier this week.
The Arizona Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Program (AZ TRAP) offers paid jobs as apprentices for two to four years while taking university courses and learning from classroom mentors at participating K-12 schools. Phoenix Union School District, Mesa Public Schools and PLC Charter Schools are among the pilot group.
Phoenix Union selected GCU for AZ TRAP after a longstanding partnership in many areas for more than a decade.
“We offer affordable, flexible program offerings, and I think that is really compelling for districts,” said College of Education Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield. “An apprentice is going to be doing a lot of hard work. There is a lot on their plate, and to put coursework on top of that, they really want to partner with programs that meet the students where they are, provide online coursework where possible and support their busy schedules – and we are the program for that.”
Many industries have apprenticeships, but Arizona became one of the last states to do it for education. It opens the door to federal financial support as apprentices receive funds to cover the cost of coursework, while earning a living wage and gaining classroom experience in a stair-step approach.
Assistant Dean Dr. Lindy Gaudiano said it was gratifying to be among a select few among more than 50 educator programs in the state to be part of the pilot. “We expect the partnership to grow,” she said.
The apprenticeship is a more intentional pathway than student teaching, which is typically at the end of a student’s college education.
“Meeting the needs of 30 fourth graders is really hard work, and when you are just thrown into those situations without guidance or support it can be really jarring for even the most inclined individuals,” Critchfield said. “This says we understand you need to earn a living, but we also understand that you need the mentorship of someone who is really skilled.”
Arizona has long faced a teacher shortage and 25% of teacher vacancies were unfilled at the beginning of the 2024 academic year, according to the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association.
It sparked a particularly dire outlook from State Superintendent Tom Horne: “We are losing more teachers than are coming into the profession. If we don’t do something major, we could end up with zero teachers.”
Nearly 100,000 students have graduated from COE since 1961, but the foundational college continues to find new ways to develop educators for short-staffed schools.
“This program allows them to ease into the profession versus being shocked into the profession, and we’ve seen really high turnover rates for teachers in teachers from their first to third year,” Critchfield said. “And a lot of times it’s because they are throw in without the support and guidance they need. This is only going to help them retain better.”
It’s one answer to the problem that has worked elsewhere.
“Tennessee was the first to launch teacher apprenticeships, and they have addressed a lot of its teacher shortage by really scaling this, so I think there is a lot of opportunity here in Arizona,” Critchfield said. “The need here in Arizona for quality teachers is particularly high.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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