Bob CollinsEveryone’s got an opinion of teachers but in North Dakota, only one person who wasn’t already a certified teacher wanted to try being one. One. One who wasn’t qualified.
North Dakota has a serious teacher shortage so last fall, Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed an emergency order allowing someone with expertise, but without a teaching degree, to teach classes in the area of expertise.
Only one person applied under the so-called “community expert program.” But that person didn’t qualify because s(he) wanted to teach agriculture but had only a two-year degree in machine tooling, the Grand Forks Herald reports today. The would-be teachers had to at least have a degree in the area in which they wanted to teach.
The state is giving up on the idea after it didn’t fill a single teacher slot.
There are currently 204 teacher openings in the state.
Related: Lack of an alternative teacher licensing program is illegal, judge says (Star Tribune)
