How UCO tackles teacher shortages amid Oklahoma’s education struggles

On Monday, the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office took over as the assigned investigator to look into the State Superintendent Ryan Walters. Two education board members claimed a video of nude women played on Walters' office TV during an executive board meeting last week. 

RELATED: Supt. Ryan Walters under investigation following allegations of inappropriate images in office; What to know

Issues at the State Department of Education impact people within Oklahoma classrooms. One expert at the University of Central Oklahoma said recruitment is improving, but it's hard to keep new teachers in Oklahoma. 

“It really does create problems for us,” said Kimberly Pennington, assistant dean of educator prep at UCO. “The [teacher] shortage is nothing new. It’s just never been this pronounced before.” 

Oklahoma has tried to fill the gap with emergency certified teachers – people without education degrees. In last week's state school board meeting, board member Becky Carson questioned the frequency the state relies on those teachers.  

“We can just keep applying for those emergency certificates and not making the effort to fill that with a certified position,” Carson said. 

Last July, the board granted emergency teaching certificates to more than 1,000 people. Pennington said new laws help them recruit people into education. She said UCO’s education majors jumped 15 percent thanks to state investment in student degree programs. 

“We have seen some of that starting to bounce back due to legislative initiatives like Inspire to Teach,” Pennington said. 

Inspire to Teach provides $5,500 in scholarships for students who pursue an education degree.  Pennington said they have a study right now funded through federal grants that will study alternatively certified teachers working toward master's degrees. Their research will look at how a full master's degree affects their skill set as teachers.

UCO also teaches students about education policy and history to help them understand Oklahoma's education system. Pennington said this helps them advocate for themselves. However, Pennington said the rhetoric and controversial curriculum changes from OSDE, led by Walters, raise doubts among her students. 

“We field a lot of questions, ‘What can we do? What can’t we do in the classroom? How do we not get fired?'” Pennington said. 

Pennington has worked with OSDE to improve the profession. 

“That agency is full of many people who are doing good work,” Pennington said. “I think that is a problem with a state agency. We begin to define it by one person.” 

Pennington said qualified teachers will stay if people support them. 

“We need to support the people that are there that are doing the good work,” Pennington said. 

Pennington said if people want better leadership at the top, they have the power. 

“Maybe we’d do that by voting,” Pennington said.