UT Dallas Launches New Teacher Education Program

DALLAS – UT Dallas is launching a new teacher education program in the hope that it will help address the teacher shortage.

This partnership program with the US Department of Labor will support student teachers and UT Dallas will be the first four-year college in Texas to participate.

Last year, the Biden administration announced an apprenticeship program to address the teacher shortage.

Nearly 43,000 teachers across the state left the field in the 2021-2022 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency, which is about 12% of teachers.

A year earlier, nearly 34,000 people, or about 9% of Texas teachers, left the field.

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A new program offered at UTD is designed to encourage more students to become teachers by covering licenses and fees, as well as a one-year paid internship.

The program also makes UTD and its school district partners eligible for federal grants from the US Department of Labor and state grants from Texas Workforce Solutions.

In the survey, teachers cited several reasons for leaving the profession, including low pay, lack of respect from society and politicians, excessive workload, and stress from the pandemic.