For kids’ future
State progress in teaching, learning
Ever since my earliest days of elementary school, the Arkansas education system has left a lot to be desired. Teachers were rich in positive intentions but poor in pay and support. Students wanted to learn, and were able to learn, but often struggled to learn, even grappling with the fundamentals, such as how to read.
Fast-forward two decades, and I’m co-teaching in a Little Rock elementary school through an innovative educator preparation program that trains teachers like doctors. Next year, when I begin teaching on my own, my salary will be at least $50,000, which is among the highest teacher starting salaries in the country.
All the while, I’m increasing literacy rates by using the science of reading, an approach I didn’t benefit from when I was a student but that Arkansas has since become a national leader in implementing.
I’m hopeful about the direction our schools are heading in. I felt particularly optimistic recently when Arkansas hosted several screenings of “The Right to Read,” a documentary about how U.S. students’ low literacy rates are related to the ineffective strategies schools use to teach reading. The film captures how Mississippi has changed course with its reading instruction and teacher training; as a result, the state’s performance has skyrocketed from 50th in the country to 21st. I believe Arkansas can follow a similar trajectory.
I’m doing everything I can to help. I’ve wanted to teach ever since I was a child. My path to getting there wasn’t always straightforward, and at times I wasn’t sure I would make it. But the state is making it easier—with better training opportunities and more financial rewards—to become a teacher.
My journey to becoming an educator started in high school in Cabot. I was a very shy student, and one of my teachers, Ms. Nyborg, pushed me to be more vocal and open. She encouraged me in a way that didn’t make me feel uncomfortable but empowered, and I wanted to share that feeling with other students. Ms. Nyborg was the adviser of my high school’s Future Educators of America Club, and by the time I was a senior, I was the club’s president.
I started college at Pulaski Tech, which was convenient and had a good program, with professors that I enjoyed. Then I transferred to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to be in its teacher training program. I was getting ready to begin a semester of student teaching—which involved going to a local school one day a week—when a personal situation required me to make more money.
Itook a break from school and might never have returned if I hadn’t learned about the new teacher residency program that UA Little Rock was starting. Instead of one day a week of student teaching, I would get four days, and instead of doing the work for free, I’d be paid $100 a day.
The opportunity has been transformative. I re-enrolled in school, and this semester I’m co-teaching in a first-grade classroom in the Little Rock School District. Four days a week, I get to teach alongside my mentor teacher, a phenomenal educator who has shown me just how much is involved in effective teaching.
She’s also taught me about the science of reading, a research-backed approach that does away with students guessing words based on context clues and instead focuses on letter sounds and explores why words sound the way they do. I didn’t get this kind of reading education as a student and had to figure out a lot on my own. Because Arkansas was one of the first states to adopt this more effective approach, my students and their peers will develop a solid literacy foundation.
This support will help me be prepared starting on the first day I lead a classroom on my own. Plus, the new $50,000 starting teacher salary will make the profession more sustainable for me.
All of this bodes well for my students and our state. Recruiting enough teachers, training them to teach effectively, and retaining the best ones over the long term is the recipe for Arkansas to strengthen its education system and prepare our children for the future.