Makena Massarella, a 20-year-old junior at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, is well on her way to becoming part of the solution to one of the most vexing problems facing Virginia and the nation: the shortage of teachers.

She wants to be an elementary school teacher, the most in-demand position out of 10 critical shortages of teaching positions in Virginia’s schools, according to a June report from the state Department of Education. Special education teachers come in second as most needed, followed by middle school teachers.

The state’s 132 school divisions employed 100,967 full-time teachers as of October 2020, according to the DOE. And state education leaders and the Virginia Education Association estimate there are more than 1,000 teacher vacancies in Virginia, a fluctuating number that’s expected to grow.

The reasons for the teacher shortage vary. Many longtime teachers have reached retirement age, and others have left public education for more lucrative fields, an effect of low unemployment and a strong hiring market.

Political and pandemic pressures also have taken a toll on teacher morale. School boards and classrooms in Virginia have been roiling over disputes, including wearing masks, removing controversial books and guidance issued by the DOE this year requiring parental permission for teachers to use a different name or pronouns for K-12 students in Virginia. Backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the policy has sparked strong emotions, as opponents say it unfairly targets transgender students, especially those whose parents are not supportive. Proponents, including Youngkin, say that the policy allows parents to have more say over their children’s education and life at school. Youngkin also set up an email tip line encouraging parents and students to report school employees engaging in “inherently divisive practices.” The tip line, which received national media coverage and was the subject of much criticism, was shut down in September.

James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association teachers’ union, which has more than 40,000 members, warns that politics has soured the profession for many teachers who were already working a difficult and demanding job. “It’s just a totally divisive environment where our elected officials are trying to pit parents and teachers against each other,” he says.

To address teaching shortages, some states have lowered qualifications for teachers, and others are recruiting teachers from other countries. Here in Virginia, for example, Fairfax County is considering forging a partnership with the Barbados Ministry of Education.

JMU is partnering with the Virginia Community College System on a new pilot program, Grow Your Own, that covers tuition, fees, books, and room and board for college students fresh out of high school in exchange for teaching two years at the low-income school districts they hail from.

It’s part of a larger effort to encourage more people to become teachers and return to their home communities. The pilot program also has pathways for current college students, like Massarella, as well as teachers’ aides and paraprofessionals.

“I always wanted to be a teacher — or thought I did,” Massarella says. To test her interest in becoming a teacher, she joined a teaching club at her high school in Elkton, a rural Rockingham County community of fewer than 3,000 residents. Yearlong visits to a local elementary school classroom solidified Massarella’s decision to become a teacher. 

“I loved it,” she says. 

Planting seeds

This year, the General Assembly allocated $4.2 million to JMU’s Grow Your Own pilot program, which will place teachers in Frederick, Loudoun, Rockingham and Warren counties, as well as Harrisonburg, Petersburg and Portsmouth.

“Grow your own” is a generic term used in education circles around the country to describe similar initiatives.

Fedderman calls the program a “phenomenal resource” for identifying people who are interested in teaching and “to authentically and organically grow [an] educator who works best for the students.”

Students in the Grow Your Own program must pursue one of the three teacher licensure areas in highest demand in school systems: special education, early childhood education and elementary education. If students fail to meet their two-year teaching obligation, they must repay the money they received through the program as a loan. 

It’s not just current college students who are part of Grow Your Own. Also taking part are some people who already work in schools — just not as full-time teachers.

Lisa Jaffe-Wilfong taught preschool and later became a kindergarten aide in Frederick County. Last spring, she learned about Grow Your Own and was thrilled to learn that it included a pathway for paraprofessionals like herself to become teachers. “I thought, ‘This is a sign. I’m going to do it,” she says. 

Her cohort of Grow Your Own students includes a 72-year-old who decided to re-enter the work world, a former horse trainer and others from different walks of life. 

“We all decided to give it a go,” Jaffe-Wilfong says. 

While continuing to work full time as a kindergarten aide at Middletown Elementary School, Jaffe-Wilfong also takes online classes from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. once a week. 

The program pays her tuition, and she hopes to receive money for her textbooks as she moves through the program, but she’s not quite sure if that will happen. (Program benefits for paraprofessionals vary from the benefits for high school students who are recruited to become teachers, and they can also vary for Grow Your Own students who were already enrolled at JMU, such as Massarella.)

“Sometimes I’ll be saying, ‘I’m 53, what am I doing?’ But then, why not? Why not?” Jaffe-Wilfong asks emphatically. 

‘Immediate impact’

JMU officials are hopeful that if the Grow Your Own program proves successful, the legislature might renew — and perhaps increase — its funding, as well as provide funding for other nontraditional initiatives to recruit teachers. JMU officials are still working out possibilities for other initiatives and what an expansion of Grow Your Own might look like.

“JMU plans on working with other universities, talking about expanding [Grow Your Own],” says Mark L’Esperance, dean of JMU’s College of Education. “I believe it is something that has the potential to be replicated in situations across the state.”

Additional funding likely would permit JMU to expand its current program for recent high school graduates and paraprofessionals.

Currently, about 75 paraprofessionals and 12 full-time JMU students are enrolled in the program. Joy Myers, executive director of the program, says 25 spots for university students were approved, but there was only six weeks between the time JMU received funding from the state in June and when classes started in August.

“Now we’ll be able to roll over some of the money for next year,” Myers says.

“We appreciate Gov. Youngkin and the money he approved for the Grow Your Own program. It’s apolitical. It was a bipartisan budget that approved this,” L’Esperance says, describing the program as a three-legged stool, one leg of which is focused largely on JMU freshmen who want to enter the teaching profession.

“We want students in low-wealth school divisions to say, ‘You know what? Teaching is a noble profession [and] I want to become a teacher and I want to go back and serve my community.’”

Grow Your Own’s second leg is focused on paraprofessionals already working in school systems — people who have an associate degree or perhaps no college credits. Under the program, this cohort might attend a community college partnering with JMU or work online independently under JMU’s guidance and take courses that can lead to a teaching license.

JMU officials already have been working with several community colleges who are under the umbrella of the Grow Your Own effort.

But it’s Grow Your Own’s federally funded third leg that most excites L’Esperance. 

“We’re working with several school divisions right now on it,” he says. “If you have a bachelor’s degree and are a paraprofessional, instead of coming to the university and getting college credit, we’re coming out to you. We’re working with the school divisions so that over a two- or three-year period, you can be certified as a teacher. That’s a game changer for this state.” 

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine helped secure $620,000 to pay for 167 program slots for paraprofessionals with bachelor’s degrees.

“This will have an immediate impact on the teacher shortage,” says L’Esperance, adding that the program will put teachers in classrooms within the first year, giving them three years to get fully licensed.

Accelerated teacher training

L’Esperance brought the idea for Grow Your Own from his previous experience in North Carolina, and a team at JMU refined how it might work in Virginia.

The concept, Myers explains, was to devise a program that would serve school divisions that had “a lot of diversity and low wealth” and often have a harder time attracting teachers than wealthier divisions.

Additionally, she says, “we wanted to be sure the money got into the hands of people who really need the opportunity, who couldn’t go to college and pursue their dream without that money.”

Larry Shifflett, Rockingham County’s assistant superintendent for innovation and learning, says his school system, like JMU, realized early on that teaching aides and other paraprofessionals could be part of the pipeline for new teachers if they received training and support.

“Our first attempt at this was in the summer of 2019,” Shifflett says, noting that Rockingham’s paraprofessional program preceded JMU’s efforts.

Working with JMU and the state Department of Education, along with county funding of about $150,000 over three years, the Rockingham school system created a cohort of 10 paraprofessional teaching candidates. “And we ended up hiring seven of those folks in 2021,” Shifflett says.

Now, working with JMU and Blue Ridge Community College, Rockingham has 23 paraprofessionals enrolled in the Grow Your Own program.

Grow Your Own builds on the success of other JMU programs such as its Accelerated Teacher Training Program, which targets career changers who want to become high school teachers and earn a master’s degree along the way.

Katie Dredger, an associate professor who oversees JMU’s Accelerated Teacher Training Program, says the pandemic caused many people to consider changing careers, including some who were inspired to pursue teaching. A hand surgeon, an administrative assistant at a financial firm and a lab worker are among the career changers who have enrolled in JMU’s program, Dredger says. 

The three-semester graduate licensure program, which was launched in 2020, has produced 18 new teachers since 2021, and an additional 13 are in the pipeline to graduate in 2023.

By earning a master’s degree, newly minted teachers earn a pay boost when they begin teaching. Also, “they are more likely to stay in teaching if they have a greater range of experience in coursework” that comes with a master’s degree, Dredger says.

Although the students in the Accelerated Teacher Training Program pay tuition, some can get help from scholarships and other assistance, Dredger says.

For JMU’s part, just as it has since 1908, L’Esperance says, the university remains laser-focused on providing the commonwealth with trained teachers — a mission that’s more critical than ever.

Innovative programs like Grow Your Own and the Accelerated Teacher Training Program are part of the answer to the teacher shortage, L’Esperance says, but they aren’t the only fixes. “My colleagues across the state are all trying to come up with solutions.” 

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JMU at a glance

Founded

Established in 1908, James Madison University was originally known as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women. It was renamed Madison College in 1938 in honor of President James Madison and became James Madison University in 1977.

Campus

Located in Harrisonburg in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, JMU’s 728-acre campus is divided by Interstate 81. It’s known for its distinctive bluestone buildings on the campus’ west side, as well as Newman Lake near Greek Row and the university’s 125-acre Edith J. Carrier Arboretum, which has numerous gardens and wooded areas with 100-plus-year-old oak and hickory trees.

Enrollment^*

Undergraduate students: 20,346

Graduate students: 1,878

Student profile 

Male | female ratio: 41% | 59%

International students: 1%

Minority students: 22%

Academic programs

JMU has nearly 140 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, ranging from accounting and computer science to international business, psychology and nursing, and eight doctoral programs.

Faculty^*

Full-time instructional
faculty: 1,070

Part-time instructional
faculty: 393

Tuition, fees, housing and dining

$24,816 approximate annual in-state undergraduate residential cost, including tuition, mandatory fees, housing and meal plan for incoming freshmen.

* Fall 2022