November 2002

UNF College of Education and Duval Schools announce initiative

Three outstanding Jacksonville residents whose lives and careers were influenced by teachers gathered recently at an event sponsored by the College of Education and Duval County Schools. The three are (from left) Jacksonville Sheriff Nat Glover, Accustaff Inc. founder Delores Kesler and astronaut Norm Thagard. Joining them were (from left) Tom Serwatka, president’s office, John Fryer, Duval schools superintendent, and Katherine Kasten, dean of the College of Education.

An initiative to recognize the importance of recruiting new teachers to the profession has been launched by the College of Education and Human Services and the Duval County public schools.

The college is leading the initiative to recognize the importance of teachers and encourage more high school graduates to consider teaching as a profession.

According to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, America will need to hire as many as two million teachers over the next decade to replace a retiring teaching population and meet growing enrollment demands. Florida schools will need to hire 16,000 teachers annually for the next 10 years, especially in urban and rural areas. According to Duval County public schools, over 600 teachers will retire from Duval Schools this year. A critical shortage exists in areas such as mathematics, science, technology, special education and bilingual education/English as a second language. Despite the increasing demand, the number of students enrolling in the College of Education has declined 7 percent in the past six years, a statewide trend for colleges of education. This is a major concern because UNF graduates are one of the major sources for teachers on the First Coast. More than 64 percent of UNF graduates become teachers in Duval County and 25 percent of UNF graduates become teachers in the surrounding four counties.

Dean Dr. Katherine Kasten attributed the decline to expanded job opportunities for women, higher salary potential in other fields and negative stories about teaching and schools.

To combat this trend, the UNF initiative titled "One Good Teacher Is All It Takes" illustrates how prominent metro residents benefited from a special teacher or teachers who influenced their lives. UNF has asked three of Jacksonville's greatest achievers - astronaut Norm Thagard, Accustaff Inc. founder Delores Kesler, and Jacksonville Sheriff Nathaniel Glover, Jr., all graduates of Duval County public schools, - to recognize the role great teachers played in their success.

UNF will use this "One Good Teacher is All It Takes" initiative to increase teacher recruitment and build support for the COEHS Scholarship Endowment. Since 1996, the College has raised more than $500,000 towards scholarships. The College hopes to raise an additional $780,000 to increase the number of scholarships to recruit future teachers and
support continued education for current teachers.

"The need for scholarships targeted toward future teachers is critical not only because of their undeniable importance to the future of our community, but also because there is currently less financial aid available to these students and, once graduated, they can expect to earn less than their non-teaching classmates over the span of their career," Kasten said.