Cherry Creek School District rolls out Aspiring Educator Pathway Program to help with Colorado teacher shortage

Cherry Creek School District is home to more than 5,200 students in western Arapahoe County. This district, like many others, is coming up with new solutions to the teacher shortage.

This year, Cherry Creek School District is launching the Aspiring Educator Pathway Program. This allows future educators to get paired with a mentor to gain valuable hands-on experience in the classroom. This program is similar to a medical residency program where the mentee can get more than 4,000 hours of experience in the classroom as opposed to just 700 hours. 

Cherry Creek follows the "see, do, and teach" model that will help aspiring teachers be successful in their chosen career path.

"This is going to be an opportunity for mentees to be in the classroom working with kids, hands-on, every single day," says Zachary Moody, 6th Grade Language Arts and Athletic Director at Sky Vista Middle School.

Sixteen teacher apprentices will be embedded in six schools for the school year. This is in partnership with the Community College of Aurora where the mentees will receive their degree and become pera-eligible Cherry Creek School District employees.

"I can just only imagine how prepared they will be when they step into a classroom on their first real year," Moody said.

The program was put together in partnership with the Cherry Creek Education Foundation.