CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than 50 people have cleared early hurdles for consideration for the 2020 Underwood-Smith Teaching Scholars Program, the revamped scholarship program designed to help fill teaching vacancies in West Virginia’s public schools.
“We know that K-12 is in desperate need of math, science and special education teachers right now, so we are prioritizing students in those fields,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker, interim chancellor for the state Higher Education Policy Commission.
“The ultimate goal here is to help K-12 try to solve some of the problems that they’re having with teacher shortages.”
The program is open to current high school seniors or recent high school graduates.
This fall, 25 selected teaching scholars will begin training.
Those chosen for the inaugural cohort will receive $10,000 per year for up to four years for eligible college expenses, including tuition and fees, room and board and textbooks.
It’s grant funding that is “stackable,” meaning it can be combined with other grant or scholarship awards like West Virginia’s PROMISE Scholarship.
Additionally, participants were to be paired with practicing teachers through their college training.
In exchange, the teaching scholars agree to teach in a West Virginia public school in an area of critical need — math, science, elementary education or special education — for a period of at least five years after graduating from college.
The priority application deadline for the Underwood-Smith Teaching Scholars Program passed on Dec. 31, 2019.
By that date, Tucker said 283 applications had been received.
Of those, 52 applicants qualified to advance to the second round with 23 indicating an interest in teaching math and science.
“In order to make the second round, they have to meet the GPA requirements of 3.25 and the college-ready test scores,” said Tucker.
Even after the priority deadline, applications were still being accepted via teachinwv.org.
West Virginia residency is not a requirement.
When fully in effect, 100 students will be involved every year at an estimated cost of $1.6 million.
A revamping for the Underwood-Smith Teaching Scholars Program, the former Underwood-Smith Scholarship and Loan Repayment Program, was included in last year’s education reform law.
“For too long, K-12 and higher ed have not worked collaboratively together to solve the state’s problems as it relates to education and that didn’t make sense,” Tucker said.
“This is our attempt to work together (with the state Department of Education) to change an existing scholarship, with the Legislature, in a way that will meet the state’s needs.”