Rose State College First to Offer Pilot Teacher Pipeline Courses for High School Students Published February 21, 2018

Midwest City, Okla. – Rose State College will begin a pilot program with the Mid-Del Public School District to offer high school seniors class offerings promoting teaching in Oklahoma as a career beginning August 2018.

This partnership positions Rose State as the first college in the state to offer this type of a pipeline for student-to-teacher development.

The program, known as Teach Oklahoma, provides a hands-on curriculum to help students gain knowledge in child development, learning styles, lesson plans, and a multitude of other training within the educational setting. The program was established within the Teacher Connection program, offered by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

“Rose State is leading the way to address the problem of the state’s lack of teachers,” stated Dr. Juanita Ortiz, Dean of the Social Sciences Division at Rose State College. “As the first state college to oversee a Teach Oklahoma class we know the students will benefit not only from the early exposure to an Associate’s degree in Pre-Education, but all concurrent classes completed will apply towards a degree and meet the Ticket to Rose program requirement.”

 The Rose State Social Sciences Division will lead the pilot program this fall under the instruction of a Rose State Professor of Family Services and Child Development, who is also currently a state certified teacher.

15 students total from across three Mid-Del high schools will take a three-credit hour Educational Planning course that will incorporate the Teach Oklahoma curriculum. Following the 18-week course, students will participate in an internship in the Spring 2019 semester. With the Mid-Del Public Schools partnership, these concurrent Teach Oklahoma students will have an opportunity to intern in either a Mid-Del elementary school or middle school.

Other school districts around the state are looking at a similar model to the one released by Rose State, for future teacher development.