Cobb schools touts ‘cutting edge’ program which funds teachers’ graduate degrees
The Cobb County School District on Wednesday celebrated the first cohort of Cobb teachers who are earning graduate degrees at no personal cost.
Hundreds of Cobb educators are now working toward master’s and specialist degrees through the “Georgia’s BEST” program, a partnership between Cobb schools and the University of West Georgia.
Georgia’s BEST (Building Educator Success Together) enables Cobb teachers to earn advanced degrees, with their employer footing the bill.
UWG, a public university based in Carrollton, is discounting tuition and fees by as much as half. Cobb is one of two school districts, along with Coweta County, participating in the new program.
“You’re on the cutting edge of this,” said Mike Dishman, the dean of UWG’S College of Education. “We’ve sailed off the map, we’re into an area where nobody has ever gone. This is, in our estimation, the most significant investment public school district boards of education have ever made in their people.”
Officials said Wednesday the program will accomplish a number of goals — improving teacher recruitment and retention, easing the burden created by student debt and adding more qualified educators.
“When you look at the investment that we are making, both Cobb and Coweta, the return on investment is infinity,” Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale told the crowd at the Cobb Innovation and Technology Academy. “You’re going to get that return very quickly and it’s going to last forever.”
The program has been applauded by officials on both sides of the aisle.
“I think it’s fantastic,” state Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-smyrna, told the MDJ at the event. “… Attracting and retaining the best employees is a challenge everyone faces, and I think that Cobb being able to offer this program is a major differentiator among the districts that we’re competing with for teaching talent.”
Republican Cobb school board member Randy Scamihorn similarly praised the initiative.
“The one thing that comes to my mind is a better teacher,” Scamihorn said. “Both qualified, as well as attitude, is going to make a better student upon graduation, gives us better employees for our businesses and our employers. It’s as simple as that, it’s a domino effect.”
CLASSES UNDERWAY
The first cohort of Cobb teachers in the program numbers 500. Two hundred of them start this summer, while the rest will start in the fall.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the first group began their studies Tuesday.
Cobb, which has about 8,000 teachers, saw overwhelming interest in the program when it was announced. Within 48 hours, Ragsdale
said, 4,700 Cobb educators had submitted applications indicating their interest.
A committee of UWG and Cobb officials selects the candidates, based in part on the district’s most pressing needs.
The Cobb Board of Education in February unanimously approved allocating $500,000 to kickstart the program. Another $1 million was allocated for it in the budget for the upcoming school year.
Ragsdale said that based on the interest among teachers, he hopes to expand the program in the next year’s budget.
“We need to make it bigger, and we can do that,” he told the MDJ. “And that’s our next goal.”
According to the district, a Cobb teacher with five years of experience and a master’s degree earns about $7,000 more annually than a teacher with a bachelor’s degree. The difference in compensation only increases as educators gain experience.
Doctoral degrees are not yet available through the program, but the district plans to offer them in the future.
Dishman told the MDJ the university has to be “incredibly financially efficient” to offer Cobb discounted prices for the degrees. They look at measures, such as larger class sizes, to bring down costs.
Ragsdale said that teaching is “as difficult of a job today as it has ever been,” which requires creative solutions to recruit employees.
“When you’re going to recruit at a college, you’re not recruiting anymore, you’re being interviewed,” he said. “And so, you have to have something that attracts people to you.”
He spoke about an oft-cited statistic that 50% of teachers leave the field within five years.
“Inside of Cobb, we want to totally annihilate that stat,” he said.
Those who participate in the program will be required to commit to three more years teaching in Cobb after obtaining their degrees.
Mceachern High Principal Regina Montgomery said the program will help her retain talent.
“I have great teachers, I want to keep them, and having programs like this is going to help me retain those teachers and help my students perform better. So I am thrilled about this program,” Montgomery said.
Nickajack Elementary Principal Timeka Cline said that at a recent job fair, prospective applicants had already heard about the program.
Shay Mcneil is a math teacher at Wheeler High. She already has a specialist degree, but hopes to earn a doctorate through the program in the future.
Mcneil is part of the marketing team for the program and has been traveling the country to spread the word about what Cobb is offering. She was recently in New York state, will head to New Orleans Thursday and will be in Dallas in a few weeks.
“Families will have the economic burden of paying for school, just taken off their plate,” Mcneil said.