AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Georgia Power has committed $200,000 to Augusta University to help improve the quality of the teacher workforce in Richmond County.

The university’s College of Education and Human Development is using the funds to launch Richmond Recruitment and Retention, or the R3 Initiative.

First and foremost, the R3 initiative will aim to recruit more high school seniors – especially minority male students – to a career in education. Nearly 85% of Richmond County students are members of minority groups.

“We are trying to create more diversity by recruiting differently and providing the support that is needed to retain teachers who are members of minority groups,” said Judi Wilson, PhD, dean of COEHD. “I’ve had students say, ‘Dean Wilson, I went all the way through school, and I never had any teachers who looked like me except for a coach.’ Those role models are really important.”

Similarly, the R3 Initiative will help foster affinity groups to assist with recruitment and retention efforts.

“We gravitate toward like-minded people,” Wilson said. “We want to create intentional support systems, so students feel engaged and like they are part of a community.”

Other recruitment and retention efforts will include securing leadership candidates to support first- through third-year teachers and involving retired teachers in observation, mentoring and support of the most at-risk education degree candidates and young teachers.

“We are also reaching out to teachers who have received a waiver in Richmond County,” said Wilson. “These are teachers who have a degree in something other than education. We recognize that these teachers are at risk because they haven’t been fully trained, and we are sending them out into the field to serve. We want to help prepare them for success.”

Last year, there were more than 450 teachers with a waiver in Richmond County public schools. That means more than 1 in 5 of the 2,136 teachers employed by Richmond County did not meet the minimum education requirements to be certified as teachers in Georgia. The Georgia Professional Standards Commission approves these waiver certificates, which are intended to help alleviate teacher shortages and allow qualified candidates to teach while completing all requirements for certification.

AU is partnering with the school system to facilitate education credits and professional development for these teachers. Furthermore, a portion of the Georgia Power funding will provide partial scholarships to assist teachers in earning a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from AU – in just two years – through an online MAT program.

“The MAT online is catered to adult learners,” Wilson said.

Through focus groups, university leaders learned that barriers to going back to school include money, raising children, caring for aging parents, and constraints on time and quality of life. The online option allows teachers who have a waiver to accommodate the additional coursework within their already busy adult lives, and the partial scholarships from Georgia Power will help with tuition fees.

Securing a master’s degree will boost retention of qualified teachers because of the pay raises that accompany higher education in the field, Wilson added.Georgia Power has supported minority male teacher recruitment in the past in collaboration with AU.

“Georgia is our home and has been for over 100 years,” said Kerry Bridges, Georgia Power Region Executive for the Augusta area. “Georgia Power Foundation continues to support education and workforce development initiatives that align with our vales through exciting partnerships like the R3 Initiative to power Georgia’s growing economy, our communities, and our next generation workforce well into the future.”

“We’re really excited to be partnering with Georgia Power to create the R3 initiative,” said Wilson. “They are incredible partners, and we are very blessed to have them in our community and to have them investing in the future of education.”

Additional contributions may be made online to the College of Education and Human Development’s R3 Initiative fund to help educate and promote more male minority high school teachers in Richmond County.

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