GREENSBORO, N.C. — School districts everywhere are experiencing teacher shortages.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on pandemic learning published in June 2022 estimated that public education lost about 7% of its total teaching population (233,000 instructors) between 2019 and 2021.
What You Need To Know
Summer Rodriguez will graduate from the family and consumer sciences department at N.C. A&T this May
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced $18 million in awards for minority-serving institutions, including HBCUs
Rodriguez is a student-teacher in a pre-K class
HBCUs are closing the teacher gap because out of all the Black teachers in the profession, half of them graduated from an HBCU, like N.C. A&T. And last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced $18 million in awards for minority-serving institutions, including HBCUs.
Summer Rodriguez will be finishing up her degree in the family and consumer sciences department at N.C. A&T. She decided to go to A&T because she wanted to go to a diverse school.
Rodriguez is a student-teacher at Vandalia Elementary School, and she’s teaching the students the importance of expanding their palate and being respectful to those who may not like the same foods.
“When you're in school with different people from different cultures, sometimes students bring things in from their culture, and we want them to be accepting of that,” Rodriguez said.
While some students in the class were excited to try the five-layer bean dip, others weren’t so thrilled about it. She says this is normal, especially at their young age.
Rodriguez loves kids and decided to go back to school to pursue teaching again after seeing her own kids go through the school system.
“I think it's really important to get back to the foundation of education, which starts with this age. Them interacting, playing, developing emotionally is so important,” she said. “I think that's kind of something that's not always looked at.”
She says even though she doesn’t look like all of the students in her class, she treats them with the same respect and love that she would if they were her own kids.