After cuts eliminated thousands of public-sector jobs and deepened the national teacher shortage, a Morgan State University program is helping dozens of Maryland residents find their way back to the classroom this fall.
More than 50 conditionally licensed teachers and displaced federal workers from Baltimore, Howard, Harford and Prince George’s counties have enrolled in Morgan’s new accelerated Master of Arts in Teaching program, said Muhammad Uddin, the program’s director.
The course, Transition to Teaching: A Strategic Response to the Diverse Teacher Shortage and Employment, launched this fall with help from a $100,000 Teacher Quality and Diversity Grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
The one-year program equips both current and aspiring teachers with the skills they need to pass state certification requirements and secure positions teaching grades 7–12.
“Because of its proximity to the nation’s capital, a large number of federal workers reside in Maryland. Many of them were laid off during the DOGE program,” said Glenda Prime dean of Morgan State school of education and urban studies.
“I thought, what if we could address both problems: providing employment for displaced federal workers and helping to meet the continuing shortage of certified, fully licensed teachers in the school system?” said Prime.
Traditionally a two-year program, the MAT has been condensed into a single year for college graduates and recently laid-off federal workers.
“What we thought was we could shorten what was typically a two-year program so that these federal workers have an accelerated pathway into employment,” said Prime. “We could provide an accelerated pathway into teaching and, at the same time, address the shortage of teachers in the school system.”
Prime said she developed the concept shortly before Gov. Wes Moore announced a $1 million diverse teacher grant in May. Once Prime and Uddin finalized their plan, they submitted a proposal that was later selected as one of 11 state higher education programs to receive funding.
“We worked hard during the whole summer, and we got the reward of 51 students,” said Uddin. “This is really historic for our program, and we want to continue it.”
The program has also secured support from Morgan’s National Center for the Elimination of Educational Disparities.
“It really has created some enthusiasm among the teachers, not only federal employees,” said Uddin. “Though we did not get many federal employees, we got many conditionally licensed teachers from different school districts.”
Students in the 33-credit program meet virtually for two of its seven three-hour classes each week, covering teaching methodology, course content and research.
“A program like ours has a double benefit providing them with a path to employment and also addressing the teacher shortage,” said Prime. “I’ve heard the saying, ‘never waste a good crisis.’”
“This is a crisis, and we’re going to use it to improve our society and improve education.”
