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Educator fellowship program sees growth
New Mexico has for years grappled with a shortage of educators.
And while that problem shows no signs of going away anytime soon, one of the state Public Education Department’s programs designed to help — known as the Educator Fellows program — is seeing signs of growth.
Over the last year, participants in the program grew from 380 to almost 500, according to a news release. Last year, over 15% of the fellows were Native American, and a quarter were seeking licensure as bilingual teachers.
“This is something that the Public Education Department is very proud of,” Education Secretary Arsenio Romero said in an email to the Journal. “We are already seeing the positive impacts in the (classroom).”
The program, according to the release, aims to foster future educators by placing people seeking degrees that lead to education licenses in classrooms close to them and paying them the salaries of educational assistants — recently raised to a minimum of $25,000 per year — to help teachers and give students high-dosage tutoring.
Fellows also receive full health benefits and are given enough paid leave time to attend up to a dozen hours of college per week. So far, it’s been funded by federal pandemic relief dollars.
The two-year fellowships, PED officials and fellows say, help deliver on-the-job training for prospective educators.
“We can work under our mentors and learn how to teach with hands-on experience to be better prepared when it is our turn to take the reins,” said Naomilynn Macias, who worked as a fellow and is now an educational assistant at Cochiti Elementary and Middle Schools in Peña Blanca.
