classroom – ��

Oklahoma Data Shows Lack of Fully Trained Teachers Entering the Classroom

Nuria Martinez-Keel — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:30:00 +0000

This article was originally published in

OKLAHOMA CITY — State leaders say they’re still pursuing solutions to reverse a yearslong decline in traditionally trained teachers entering the classroom, all while emergency certified educators continue to fill essential teaching roles.

The number of graduates completing Oklahoma teacher preparation programs, including college degrees in education, has fallen by about 40% since 2013, state officials told the Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday.

Traditionally certified educators who completed these programs have represented less than half of all first-year teachers entering the state’s public schools since 2018.

To help fill in the gap, Oklahoma districts hire thousands of emergency certified teachers, who might not have traditional classroom training, when a candidate with full or partial credentials is unavailable. Uncertified adjunct instructors, who must have relevant career experience but aren’t required to have a college degree, also have taken on a growing role in public schools.

The state Board of Education has placed increasing scrutiny on Oklahoma’s reliance on emergency certified teachers, who were a rarity a decade and a half ago. The board votes monthly to issue emergency certifications.

“I’m not against it,” said Becky Carson, a retired teacher and one of the most vocal board members on the issue. “I just want to make sure that the educators that we’re putting there are supported and we’re giving them the right training and being able to remove those that might not be (in) the best place for them.”

Oklahoma State Board of Education member Becky Carson speaks during a meeting Oct. 9 in Oklahoma City. (Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

Research shows teacher ��Ի�� impact student academic achievement, she said. If Oklahoma wants to rise from the bottom of national education rankings, Carson said, “we have to look at all aspects that could be of a concern that’s putting us there.”

The state issued 3,928 emergency certifications for the 2025-26 school year, state data shows.

So far, 1,392 more have been approved for 2026-27, said Jeff Smith, program director for teacher certification at the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

More than 470 of those teachers are renewing past emergency certifications, he said.

The number of applicants seeking renewals — some as many as eight times after failing to pass certification tests or not completing required coursework — has been one of the state board members’ top complaints.

Sixty of the 638 applicants approved Thursday have been issued an emergency certificate more than three times, according to an Oklahoma Voice analysis of state records. Emergency certifications are typically renewed every one to two years, according to state administrative codes.

“Why are we having people that are having to ask for that renewal eight times?” Carson said. “Why aren’t we being able to get them to pass the test if that’s the reason?”

Data agency staff presented at the board’s meeting Thursday showed the stark reality of the pipeline feeding Oklahoma’s teacher workforce.

Emergency certified educators, once considered a stop-gap measure, were the most common of all first-year teachers in 2025. They represented 38.8% of teachers in their first year and more than 5% of all Oklahoma educators, state officials said.

Traditionally certified educators made up 87.8% of the overall teacher workforce in 2025 and only 37.1% of those in their first year, but their numbers could rise in 2026. So far, they represent 45.5% of 2026 first-year teachers, but state data doesn’t yet reflect the full hiring cycle.

Provisional educators, who have completed some requirements but still have testing or coursework to complete, represented 7.6% of all teachers and 24.1% of first-year educators last year.

That presents a striking difference from 2010, when emergency certifications amounted to 0.5% of incoming new teachers. Those with traditional certifications counted for 96.3% of the classroom teacher workforce and 64.7% of first-year entrants. The rest held a provisional certificate.

The data sheds light on an “unfortunate situation” that state leaders must work together to solve, said Rep. Dick Lowe, R-Amber. The state House Common Education Committee leader, who attended the board meeting Thursday, said he’s going to participate in interim studies and a working group with the state Board of Education to explore solutions.

“I think if you look at those numbers, you kind of understand where our test scores are, where they’re at and why they’ve been there,” Lowe said of .

State Rep. Dick Lowe, R-Amber, attends a special session of the state House at the Oklahoma Capitol on Oct. 3, 2023. (Kyle Phillips/Oklahoma Voice)

The weakening teacher pipeline wasn’t a shock to Carson, she said, given how many educators complain of classroom behavior issues and a lack of support.

State lawmakers in recent years have , for aspiring educators and in the hopes of combatting the education workforce shortage.

A state initiative known as TeachForward is helping 450 emergency certified educators earn a standard certification within one year, Education Department staff said Thursday. Six Oklahoma universities partnered with the program to offer accelerated coursework and exams at no out-of-pocket cost to participants.

The agency also touted a program it will launch Monday to give 463 early career teachers a week of professional development and mentoring throughout the school year. The program serves first- and second-year teachers with any type of certification.

State Superintendent Lindel Fields expressed enthusiasm for the program’s potential to help retain participating teachers in the classroom long term.

“There’s a lot of talk about recruiting teachers. The real problem is keeping teachers,” Fields said during the state Board of Education meeting. “Everything we can do to help those teachers be successful in this program is super exciting.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.

Crowdfunding Sites Serve As Critical Lifeline for Teachers

Trinity Alicia — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 18:01:00 +0000

Crowdfunding has long helped teachers afford the school supplies they need for their classrooms. But as prices rise and budgets get further constrained, these fundraising efforts have become an even more critical lifeline.

According to a survey of more than 3,000 teachers conducted by AdoptAClassroom.org, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform, teachers received a median classroom school supply budget of $200 last school year – an amount that 93% of the respondents said was not enough to cover their in-class needs.

Many teachers choose to subsidize the remainder of the costs, but it comes at a steep price. Out-of-pocket spending among teachers has increased by 44% since 2015, the survey found, with teachers reporting that they spent an average of $860 of their own money on supplies and other expenses during the 2022-2023 school year.

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“Teachers spend their classroom supply budget fast,” Melissa Hruza, Vice President, Marketing & Development at AdoptAClassroom.org, told ��. “Even though they are willing to provide basic items like food and supplies for their students, their ability to pay for it is decreasing.”

One big reason: teacher pay has failed to keep up with the sky high rate of inflation in recent years. Adjusted for inflation, teachers are making $3,644 less than they did a decade ago, according to the National Education Association.

Communities and parents appear to be recognizing the challenges teachers face. AdoptAClassroom.org said its site has received more donations to teachers for the 2024-2025 back-to-school season than last year.

“Comparing July and August 2024 to the same period in 2023, the number of contributions to educators on AdoptAClassroom.org is currently up 13% from 2023 to 2024 so far this year,” Hruza said. “There’s also been a 9% increase in the number of both new fundraisers and total number of teachers with active campaigns.”

GoFundMe has seen a similar bump. So far this year, more than $12 million has been raised for K-12 education on the crowdfunding platform. In 2023, total funds raised for educators reached over $24 million — a 7% increase from the previous year.

“[P]eople don’t always see the hidden costs that end up on teachers’ hands, like providing additional resources for students who can’t afford small items like pencils,” Shawn An, a first-year earth and environmental science teacher at Julius L. Chambers High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, told ��.

To ensure he and his students were fully prepared for this school year, An launched a GoFundMe campaign called A Classroom for Future Scientists, with a goal to raise $1,000. He ended up receiving $1,045 in donations.

“What this funding created is the opportunity for me to bring the basic necessities into the classroom I need to succeed, like organizers and writing utensils to grade with,” An said. “It’s helped me create a space where I can be efficient and to find resources for students to engage in the work we’re asking them to do.”

Lightening the load

To help teachers afford the supplies they need, GoFundMe launched its own fundraising initiative called the Education Opportunity Fund. Since the fund’s launch in 2020, GoFundMe has raised more than $240,000 and has distributed more than 550 grants to teachers in order to help them afford classroom supplies and other educational resources, Leigh Lehman, GoFundMe director of communications, told ��.

“The grants were an additional step to offer help to educators and lighten their load a bit, and there are still grants available for teachers who are in need,” Lehman said.

Grants of can be put toward common classroom items like school supplies, books and class decorations. Funds can also be used for other educational resources or items like field trips, playground equipment, updated technology and extracurricular activities.

Similar to GoFundMe’s grant initiative, AdoptAClassroom.org provides funding through their Spotlight Fund Grants program. This program targets classroom initiatives that address things like social-emotional wellness, Indigenous language, arts, STEM education and racial equity. Eligible teachers can apply for grants of $750 or more on AdoptAClassroom.org.

“People all around the country want to find ways to help more teachers,” GoFundMe’s Lehman said. “They understand there is a gap in funding and that teachers are incredibly stressed.”

Keeping kids engaged

Hana Syed Khan, a fourth grade teacher in New Jersey’s South River Public Schools district, started her own GoFundMe campaign, A Classroom Built on Kindness, in August to support her efforts to make her classroom “as useful, accessible and hands-on as possible.”

Entering her fifth year of teaching at a new school in a new district, Syed Khan knew she had to be more creative with the amount of classroom space she has, materials needed and the resources available.

Her campaign raised $1,920 in funds, which she used to purchase a spin-the-wheel device, a carpet for reading time, books for the classroom library and the classroom staple Better Than Paper.

“The [kids] want to touch everything, and they should be able to. It’s their room,” Syed Khan told ��.

Through sharing via family group chats, her husband’s LinkedIn account, word-of-mouth and other social media platforms, like and , Syed Khan said she “feels fortunate to have set up the fundraiser and leverage community support for her classroom.”

School supplies purchased with donations from Syed Khan’s GoFundMe campaign, A Classroom Built on Kindness. (Hana Syed Khan)

She plans to keep her fundraiser open to donations so she can continue to afford classroom activities and incentives with hopes to keep students engaged through the year.

“Students in this district suffer from chronic absenteeism, which may stem from lack of transportation, parents’ schedule or a lack of motivation for themselves,” Syed Khan said. “Classroom incentives, like parties at the end of the month, are a really big part of what I want to use the funds for next.”

Drawing from his own school experience, An said he understands that many of his students face challenges outside of the classroom. Bringing smaller tools and supplies like writing utensils and paper to class is not the first thing on their mind.

“That can be a real barrier for students to access what teachers are asking them to do,” An said. “Using the donations to directly address those barriers helps students stay engaged to do their best in the classroom.”

He used a portion of the donations he has raised to purchase a rolling cart that allows for easy access to classroom supplies.

An purchased a rolling classroom cart with funds from his GoFundMe campaign, A Classroom for Future Scientists, for students to access supplies while in class. (Shawn An)

An and Syed Khan hope their efforts inspire other teachers to overcome the fear of asking for help. For Syed Khan, it was difficult to find the right words for the campaign and the video she included to go along with it. She wanted to ensure her classroom needs were as clear as possible to potential donors.

“Trying to figure out what to say to grab people’s attention was the most challenging part,” Syed Khan said.

“It definitely wasn’t easy,” she said. “But when people see someone speaking and explaining what the funds will be used for, it can attract many people because they see a real human.”

An experienced similar doubts about asking for help. He credits his family for providing feedback on his campaign narrative and helping him to frame his message.

“My family and I went through a co-writing process to get the point across that this was me, just as a person, asking a personal favor of people who were available,” An said.

GoFundMe currently hosts webinars for educators and education-related organizations to help them learn how to effectively fundraise. They’ve also updated their with tips for teachers to share their campaign and keep communities engaged.

“Seeing more teachers turn to external sources of funding to help support their students’ needs is definitely eye-opening,” An said. “It highlights the fact that not as much care is funneled into education as I think it should be.”