Clayton County hopes to hire about 300 teachers before the school year begins in August.
Schools across metro Atlanta, where more than 2,000 teacher openings exist, are competing for a shrinking pool of education school graduates and coming up with new ways to recruit.
For example, Clayton County is targeting substitute teachers and support staff who want to become full-time certified teaching staff by updating a program that already existed in the district, the Teacher Academy of Preparation and Pedagogy. The district pays for certification testing for applicants, among other things, in exchange for a five-year commitment to the district.
“Instead of looking externally, we’re looking at people internally who have the interest and desire,” said Douglas Hendrix Sr., Clayton County Schools’ chief of human resources.
Hendrix said the district currently has about 300 openings, but expects that number to fall after background tests come in for about 100 selected at a recent job fair. A year ago this time, about 420 openings existed, he said.
Many are hopeful this will be the year where school begins without hundreds of open teaching slots across metro Atlanta, filled by substitutes who may not know the subject matter and, in some cases, are not certified.
You can read about school district job fairs and other information in the full story on myajc.com.
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