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The Detroit school district has launched a new partnership with Michigan State University to meet the growing demand for teachers certified in special education.
Detroit Public Schools Community District and Michigan State University this fall launched an initiative where district teachers can pursue the university’s online master’s degree in special education with an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, credential, or endorsement. DPSCD covers the MSU program tuition, with 22 Detroit teachers enrolled in the fall cohort, said Erin Hamilton, MSU’s special education master’s program coordinator.
“This intentional partnership allows us to have a pipeline in an area where it’s a growing need,” DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told BridgeDetroit. “If we don’t do things like that, then our students won’t have certified teachers.”
The initiative comes after Vitti earlier this year expressed concerns about special education certification, saying that the supply of educators statewide is not meeting demands when it comes to staffing and support for special education, particularly for students with autism. There are 223,100 students receiving special education in the state, including students in private schools or home school who receive special education services by a public school. About 13.5% of the students have autism.
DPSCD has also experienced a significant increase in the number of students diagnosed with autism, going from 1,035 during the 2019–20 school year to 1,957 this school year, Vitti told BridgeDetroit, adding “which naturally means we need more teachers.”
DPSCD, he said, has had a relationship with MSU in placing student teachers in the district through its Mentors as Teacher Educators, or MATE program.
“But this (program) was very focused on identifying a problem and a need, which was the need to recruit and develop more teachers with the ASD endorsement certification,” he said.
DPSCD began developing the MSU initiative earlier this year, after the district and the Detroit Federation of Teachers established an agreement in March to expand educators’ access to teacher preparation, tuition assistance, professional learning and pathways to state endorsements in high-need areas of special education, Vitti said. The district then began promoting the initiative internally, with interested teachers signing up through DPSCD’s human resources department.
“Recruiting and developing special education teachers has been a growing challenge for us (DPSCD), throughout Michigan and throughout the country,” he said.
Currently, an aspiring teacher needs a bachelor’s degree, completion of an approved teacher preparation program, complete clinical experiences, including student teaching, and to pass the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification, or MTTC. If they want to teach in special education, teachers must earn a specific categorical endorsement, such as ASD, cognitive impairment, and speech and language impairment.
Michigan has seen statewide teacher shortages as educators leave the field at an unsustainable rate. This has forced schools to rely on educators with temporary or interim credentials, according to a January report from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at MSU. That is especially true for special education, where vacancy rates are nearly double the statewide average, said the report. Across much of the state, the lack of staffing has resulted in teachers with no special education credentials instructing students with disabilities.
The shortage is not only confined to teachers – Michigan also lacks speech language pathologists, social workers, and paraprofessionals who work with students with disabilities.
“This (partnership) comes at a perfect time,” Vitti said. “It’s a model for what the rest of Michigan should be doing, which is expanding partnerships and accelerated paid-for programs, so that teachers have an easier path to get this extra certification, or we’re not going to give our most vulnerable students what they deserve.”
Growing a pipeline from within
Vitti said participants must be full-time certified DPSCD teachers enrolled in a district-approved special education program. Educators are expected to complete the degree and certification requirements within three years of when they begin the program and must remain employed as a DPSCD teacher for six years from the time the program starts.
Tuition for the participating cohort equates to $200,000, which is being paid for under the district’s general fund, Vitti said.
Hamilton said special education is one of the hardest areas to staff and MSU’s partnership with DPSCD is a way the two institutions can grow a pipeline from within the system.
“Tuition support removes the cost barrier that keeps many good teachers from pursuing an endorsement,” she said. “The commitment to stay as a DPSCD classroom teacher for six years helps the district keep that expertise in Detroit schools. For Detroit, that means more teachers prepared to support students with autism. For Michigan, it’s a model other districts and universities could look at.”
The online master’s degree in special education requires 30 to 36 credits, depending on an educator’s previous preparation and teaching certification, Vitti said. Hamilton said program participants will have to complete six courses focused on evidence-based practices for supporting students with autism, including communication and social supports, inclusive instructional approaches, and strategies for addressing individual learning needs.
“They will learn to assess academic and behavioral needs, design instructional and behavioral interventions, work with families and school teams, and create structured, predictable classrooms,” she said. “Teachers who finish the sequence and pass the ASD Michigan Test for Teacher Certification can meet the state requirements for the ASD endorsement.”
Teachers will then be able to teach in DPSCD’s ASD program. The district offers special education hubs across its schools, which are designed for students to get the services they need, while still being enrolled in general education schools.
Vitti said he’s open to expanding the program so teachers can take courses at other colleges in Michigan.
“If colleges and universities are going to be better partners, then these are the exact kind of programs that they need to offer to be relevant and helpful,” he said.
Heather Eckner, director of statewide education for the Autism Alliance of Michigan, said the initiative is a “positive” as the state looks to create more avenues for special education-endorsed educators.
“This sounds great, and I wonder how scalable it is for other areas of the state,” she said. “Does MSU have the capacity to partner with multiple districts, or are they trying to pilot something with Detroit right now?”
Hamilton said she couldn’t speak to future partnership plans for MSU.
‘A step in the right direction’
The new initiative comes at a time where the Michigan Department of Education is looking at ways to make it easier for educators to become certified in special education. Last month, the agency proposed making changes to its Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education, or MARSE. One of those changes includes a new stand-alone special education teacher endorsement. Teachers must be prepared to provide specially designed instruction in reading and math development, core content in general education, and positive student educational outcomes, according to MDE. With the stand-alone endorsement, teachers can be placed in special education programs such as:
- Mild cognitive impairment
- Emotional impairment
- Specific learning disabilities
- Physical or other health impaired
- Elementary and secondary resource
However, the endorsement cannot be used for programs like ASD, visual impairment, and severe and moderate cognitive impairment, MDE stated. Those disabilities would still require a separate endorsement.
The timeline of the proposed changes can take up to 90 days depending upon several factors, including review of all public comments, submission to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, and subsequent adoption, MDE spokesperson Bob Wheaton told Bridge Michigan.
Vitti said the proposed rule change is a start, but he doesn’t believe that all teachers will pursue an ASD endorsement. He believes the state should allow teachers certified in special education to teach in multiple areas and then commit to getting their endorsement certification within a certain number of years.
“We still need more flexibility because the reality of the market is we don’t have enough (teachers),” he said. “MDE and universities and districts can do a lot better with incentivizing teachers to go in these fields because if we don’t start incentivizing … we’re not going to have certified teachers, and that’s not a conversation just for Detroit, but across the state.”
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
