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How Eagle County School District is trying to cultivate teachers from pool of local residents

Goal of new program is to create a path to becoming an educator for those who already have ties to the community

The Pathways in Education plan to grow the Eagle County School District educator pool from current Eagle County students, staff and residents.
Zoe Goldstein/Vail Daily

To combat growing teacher shortages, the Eagle County School District is turning to a unique approach: Cultivating teachers from the pool of people already living and working in the area.

Mary Ann Stavney, a learning and instruction specialist at the district, presented to the school board on Wednesday, Oct. 23, on the Pathways in Education plan to grow the Eagle County School District educator pool from current Eagle County students, staff and residents.

The goal of the program is to create a clear, consistent, easily navigable path to becoming an educator for those who already have ties to the community and the school district.



“People have an idea of what it’s like to live in Eagle County, and then when you move here, you discover the reality,” Stavney said. “There are plenty of fun outdoor activities and lots of things to do, but there are some challenges to our community.”

Educators that come from inside the community are “committed” to Eagle County, with established community relationships, Stavney said. Those who are or were students or staff in the school district are often already familiar with and aligned with district values and teaching styles.

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How Pathways in Education works

The district has a Pathways in Education team stretches from human resources to the curriculum and instruction team that works on finding and supporting potential future in-district teachers.

There are three main pathways that lead to successful in-district teachers, Stavney said: High school recruitment, “coaching up” current employees, and sharing information about employment opportunities with the community.

To become a district teacher, an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree, but it can be in any area of study. The Pathways in Education program provides support through several partnerships to obtain the necessary degrees and/or certifications.

One of the Pathways in Education team’s goals, Stavney said, is to “maintain or increase the number of locally grown” participants in these programs, and Eagle County schools alumni, that become educators.

There are four main categories of partnerships in the program: High school postsecondary readiness programs, four-year teacher preparation programs, alternative licensure programs and the mentor teacher endorsement program.

High school postsecondary readiness programs like CareerX, CareerWise, YouthPower365 provide the opportunity for high school students to obtain classroom experience while still in school themselves. The programs offer internships or jobs that provide the students with experience in education, preparing them to take their studies in education further upon graduation.

Four-year teacher preparation programs at Colorado Mountain College, Colorado Mesa University, Western Colorado University and other Colorado universities offer opportunities for Colorado residents to receive a degree in education without leaving the area, or the state.

Numerous alternative licensure programs allow the school district to hire participants to work as teachers while simultaneously completing their preparatory work to become fully licensed. In other words, “folks are learning how to teach while they’re teaching,” Stavney said. Participants take classes to become educators while running a classroom themselves. “It’s a challenging route,” she said.

Colorado Mountain College offers a mentor-teacher endorsement program that trains teachers to become mentors to other teachers. Mentorship is a big piece of the puzzle when it comes to integrating new teachers into Eagle County schools, Stavney said.

The district already allows principals to assign a mentorship stipend for experienced teachers who are matched with newer teachers, but Stavney suggested the district support even more mentorship for new educators. “Having a one-on-one mentor is just another layer of support that I think could be beneficial,” Stavney said.

Is the Pathways in Education plan working?

Hiring in the district goes through a cycle of growing and shrinking, Stavney said. Every year, the district loses teachers and potential teachers to other fields, either before or after they are hired. For some, it is higher salary offerings or lighter labor demands in other jobs.

For many, Stavney said, finding affordable housing is an insurmountable challenge. While some district alumni can find housing in Eagle County by living with their parents, “at some point, they’re not going to want to do that. So how do we help with that?” Stavney said.

New hires increased in 2022 and 2023, reaching a new class of 71 teachers in 2023, and decreased this year, with just 47 new teachers.

Among this year’s pool of newly hired educators, four are district alumni (8.5%), while five alumni were hired last year (7%). This year, 23% of new hires are community members who went through alternative licensure programs.

Since the fall of 2022, two to three district students have been CareerWise teacher apprentices each year. This past summer, 11 district students worked as summer staff at YouthPower365 programs. This year, two district students are also earning class credit through CareerX internships.

Where else do teachers come from?

Not all of the district’s new hires are new teachers. 31% of this year’s incoming class of teachers already had their professional licenses, meaning they are experienced teachers, many of whom came from other locations within the state.

Stavney said the district could expand its reach by bringing people from outside of Eagle County to work as student teachers in the district.

“When kids do their student teaching, (and) they have a positive experience, they’re more likely to apply to work at that particular district,” Stavney said.

Another approach the school district takes to combat the teacher shortage is to hire international teachers with intention. 23% of educators hired this year are international hires on J1 or J2 visas. When some board members pointed out that they see a significant number of teachers from Colombia working in Eagle County, Assistant Superintendent Katie Jarnot said that was done deliberately.

“Their school system is more similar to ours. It can be very difficult for an international teacher to come into our system when they’ve been teaching in a system that’s very, very different,” Jarnot said. “We’ve found that both the teacher preparation that happens in Colombia and their schooling system is more similar to ours than some other places in the world.”


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