Middle Georgia State University has partnered with the DeKalb County School Board to provide future educators with a teacher residency program as part of the Board's ongoing initiative to fill vacancies in Georgia's third-largest school system, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"The IGNITE DeKalb teacher residency will train 100 teachers by June 2025, according to documents about the project posted with the meeting agenda. The one-year program is for those who already have bachelor’s degrees, but need to get certified to be a teacher. They’ll also obtain a master’s degree in that year. At the same time as they complete necessary coursework through a partnership with Middle Georgia State University, they will be working in a 'full-time, student-facing position' alongside a teacher mentor.
The university will cover $414,900 — about half of the cost of the teachers’ education. There will be no cost to the program’s participants. Upon completion, the goal will be to hire the teachers for jobs at the district’s schools with the highest needs."
