IPS Launches Apprenticeship Program to Attract New Teachers

(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Indianapolis Public Schools have launched a teacher apprenticeship program to help fill vacancies.

The IndyTeach apprenticeship will allow 10 people who want to become teachers to get a year of classroom experience and earn their teaching license, without having to go back to school. IPS talent acquisition director Alex Moseman says the paid residencies will give new teachers longer and more rigorous training than a student teaching assignment, while pairing them with veteran teachers as mentors.

Moseman says the apprenticeships will give teachers an understanding of the unique challenges of an urban school district so they don’t have to adjust if they join IPS fulltime.

Moseman says IPS hopes the program will not only attract more teachers, but more minority teachers. 85% of IPS students are Hispanic or African-American, while only about a quarter of the district’s teachers are. Moseman says several studies conclude students, and especially students of color, learn better when teachers of color are at the front of the classroom.

The apprentice teachers will be assigned to three IPS schools. The district hopes to expand the program in future years.

IPS has about 70 teaching vacancies, about 2% of the total.

A companion program will train four new principals.