LANSING, Mich. — State agencies in Lansing have started a program meant to turn classroom aides and substitute teachers into fully certified special education teachers without forcing them to quit their jobs.
The Michigan Apprenticeship Pathways for Special Education, or MAPS, is paid for with a five-year federal education grant worth $1,007,235. It pairs the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity with the Michigan Department of Education, MiLEAP, the state’s lifelong learning department, plus the AFL-CIO Workforce Development Institute and Alma College.
Participants stay on their school district’s payroll, keep their wages and benefits and pay nothing out of pocket. Along the way they log 576 hours of related classroom instruction and 8,000 hours of paid, supervised work beside certified special education teachers, finish a bachelor’s degree and earn a Michigan teaching certificate with a special education endorsement.
Substitutes, paraprofessionals, instructional aides and other people already working in schools can apply. LEO Director Susan Corbin said the program targets a long-running shortage of certified special education teachers in Michigan, and State Superintendent Glenn Maleyko said many school staff members across the state want a way into those jobs.
Section: More Lansing MI education news
Filed under: Lansing MI Education News
