Teachers Ascend into West Virginia
Closing the Teacher Gap
Written by Paige Udermann
Photos by West Virginia Public Education Collaborative
R ecruiting and retaining talented teachers is essential for student success in the Mountain State. Educators are responsible for shaping our nation’ s future, a role of undeniable importance, which inspired the creation of Teachers Ascend into West Virginia. Launched in spring 2024 by West Virginia University( WVU), the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative( WVPEC) and the West Virginia Department of Education, this initiative works to attract dedicated and talented educators to the state.
“ Teachers Ascend is an innovative approach to teacher recruitment in West Virginia, aiming to bring teachers to West Virginia to help fill the 1,200 openings,” says Donna Peduto, executive director of the WVPEC.“ By highlighting quality of life, intentionally integrating them with the community and offering opportunities for personal and professional growth, Teachers Ascend offers a unique opportunity for teachers who are looking for a great place to live, work and play.”
Teachers Ascend was inspired by the success of Ascend West Virginia as well as other innovative, nationwide teacher recruitment models.
“ The program is modeled after the highly successful Ascend West Virginia remote worker recruitment program and built from benchmarking 12 teacher corps programs,” Peduto says.“ Teachers Ascend leverages these attributes along with West Virginia’ s rich outdoor assets and communities as a recruitment strategy. In alignment with the program’ s strategies and activities, the ideal candidate will possess most, if not all, of the following qualities: a commitment to education, desire for small-town living, enthusiasm for outdoor activities and a career-focused approach. Teachers Ascend will also serve to elevate the teaching profession by providing incentives and opportunities for teacher leadership.”
The program resulted from a dedicated group effort involving multiple organizations working toward the same goal. One of these is the WVU Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative( OEDC), which, in partnership with the state, created Ascend West Virginia.
“ When we learned there are approximately 1,200 teacher openings in the state, we wanted to see how we could adapt the Ascend West Virginia model to address this strategic need,” says Danny Twilley, Ph. D., assistant vice president for community and economic development at WVU.“ What we have learned through Ascend West Virginia is we can attract people to move to West Virginia, and by fully leaning into our pillars of community, purpose and the outdoors, they will stay, as that program has a 97 % retention rate. If it works for remote and hybrid workers, we wanted to test the theory to see if it would also work for teachers.”
The OEDC works closely with the WVPEC to fine-tune the program and make sure it continues to grow and develop. Brad and Alys Smith, president and first lady of Marshall University and co-founders of the Wing 2 Wing Foundation, are excited to support the strategic growth of Teachers Ascend through the Ascend West Virginia model.
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