Across the state, teachers and students have returned to the classroom. But according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, not every classroom has a teacher or one with the proper certification.
A report released in May 2023 showed that 3,915 teaching positions were left vacant or were filled by someone not certified in the subject area. The two areas with the largest number of vacancies were elementary education and special education.
The Clinton School District understands the teacher shortage. Jennifer Corson, principal at Clinton High School, said she has seen the number of applications drop.
“Ten years ago, we might have received 20 applications for a position, and not we only see two or three for the same position,” she said. “I don’t know of many districts, even bigger districts, that aren’t struggling to get quality people into their schools.”
Enter the “Grow Your Own” program. Funded by the Missouri education department, the program works with school districts to identify and develop prospective teachers at the high school level, Corson said.
The Clinton district applied for the state grant last year and was one of 125 districts chosen. Corson said local students could find a number of career exploration options through the Clinton Technical School, the military and other areas, but nothing existed for education.
“I love the career education part of high school and helping students figure out their interests so they know what they’re going to do after they graduate,” she said. “It’s a passion of mine. So I decided I would take this on and write this grant and hopefully we can encourage some kids to go into teaching.”
The school district used the $10,000 grant to set up an internship program for juniors and seniors, Corson said. In addition to spending time each day in a classroom, the students attended two events at the University of Central Missouri. Those events gave the high schoolers a look at the components of an education program and the chance to hear panel discussions with current educators.
The grant also helped the school district award a $500 scholarship to each student who made a commitment to become a teacher and a $500 scholarship to the teacher in whose classroom the student interned, Corson said. Last year, 12 students completed internships. Six were seniors, and all six entered an education‐focused program when they graduated.
One of those students was Kenzlie Hager. She spent two hours daily in the second‐grade classroom of Jaime Briggs, who also happened to be her second‐grade teacher. Kenzlie currently is enrolled at State Fair Community College in Sedalia with plans to earn a degree in elementary education.
She helped in Briggs’s classroom the year before her internship as a tutor and mentor. Although her mother, Liane Hager, is a Clinton High School teacher, Kenzlie wasn’t sure that she wanted to teach. She said Briggs encouraged her to give the internship a try and to consider education as a career.
Kenzlie said she worked with small groups of students in areas where they were struggling and sometimes helped with a lesson in front of the class.
“It opened my eyes to how it would be for me in a classroom,” she said, adding that the interaction with the children showed “how much I loved being around them.”
After she graduated this spring, Kenzlie earned a substitute teaching certificate, an option offered through the Missouri education department for those who do not have the required hours of college credits to teach. Since the start of this school year, she has substituted at Henry Elementary.
To encourage the interns and because the district needs substitutes, Corson said that seniors who complete this year’s internship program and plan to study education can become substitute certified with the grant paying for the course and the test.
Michele Bramell, who has taught second grade for the Clinton School District for 23 years, described the internship program as “amazing,” particularly given the teacher shortage. She also has seen a significant decline in the number of students interested in education, noting that she was not aware of a single student teacher – a requirement for college students pursuing a career in education – at Henry Elementary last year.
Like Kenzlie, Chelsi Berry also returned to her own second‐grade teacher’s classroom to intern. She was an intern in Bramell’s classroom last year and is back this year.
“That’s a good sign that she wants to pursue a career in teaching,” Bramell said. “It’s neat to have a student come back through and want to be a teacher.”
Bramell said Chelsi helps prep materials, hands out items needed for lessons and occasionally grades. She also works with students who might need one‐on‐one time with a task.
“She’s getting a good experience to see how everything unfolds before she starts her student teaching down the road,” Bramell said. “This is a more relaxed way to see what it’s like.”
Corson said that 36 percent of the Clinton School District’s employees are alumni. The school district is one of the larger employers in the community, and encouraging students to consider a career in education can open their eyes, she said. An internship provides an avenue for that to happen.
“We don’t want students going to college, paying a lot of money and figuring out way too late, ‘Oh, this isn’t for me,’” she said. “But I also have had students say, ‘I would never have gotten myself into doing something like this without the internship program.’”
