Aspiring elementary school teachers at Chico State could earn $42,000 a year while training to work in rural schools. It’s part of a new effort to address teacher shortages across the North State.
Chico State’s School of Education estimates that 11 counties in the region are short 170 elementary school teachers.
The university's new Rural Opportunities for Outstanding Teaching & Schools (ROOTS) program aims to make it easier for people to become teachers by paying them for the hundreds of hours they’re required to spend training in classrooms.
Mimi Miller, a Chico State education professor who helps oversee the program, said California requires aspiring teachers to complete 600 hours of classroom training, making it difficult to hold down another job while earning their credentials.
“I’ve identified many, many people who would become outstanding educators and what’s really getting in the way is the fact that they basically have to take on an unpaid job for two semesters,” Miller said. “So what we’re hoping to do is attract the best and the brightest for our region.”
The program will pay participants $42,000 annually for three years to work alongside mentor teachers in elementary school classrooms while taking classes at night. They will focus on literacy and math.
Participants must have a bachelor’s degree in education or a closely related field. By the end of the three-year program, they will have earned a master’s degree.
ROOTS is funded by an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The five-year grant will support four cohorts of 15 participants each, with the first beginning in June 2027.
Miller said that, since 2009, her department has been running teacher residencies where students work onsite with a mentor at a local school for a year. She found these programs have helped rural schools recruit teachers who stay in their communities.
Rebecca Justeson, another Chico State education professor who oversees ROOTS, said that while there’s no requirement that graduates stay in the area, the hope is that they will.
Graduates will get help finding teaching jobs from education officials in Glenn, Butte and Tehama counties.
Editor’s note: NSPR’s broadcast licenses are owned by Chico State. It does not oversee our news production or programming.
NSPR's Ken Devol contributed reporting to this story.
