NSU Tackles Oklahoma's Teacher Shortage With Alternative Recruitment Program

Northeastern State University is trying to fill teacher vacancies with an alternative teacher recruitment program.

There were more than 1,000 teacher vacancies in Oklahoma before the start of the 2022 school year.

Now, NSU is using a nearly $2.5 million grant to allow anyone with a bachelor's degree to earn an accelerated certification for teaching.

The grant will be used to focus not only on teacher recruitment, but also teacher retention.

It will also use scholarships to bring more teachers into Oklahoma and help them stay in education.

Doctor Vanessa Anton, the Dean of the College of Education, said bringing teachers in is important, but keeping them in education is just as important.

"You could recruit 300 more teachers a year for every university. But if you don't retain them and they either don't finish the program, or they go out and start teaching and they have burn out and leave after a year, then what good did that do you," said Dr. Anton.

NSU is willing to help applicants get their paperwork submitted to the Oklahoma State Department of Education and figure out what courses they need to take.