Eric Braun, University of Vermont

Dara Hall, James Madison University

Keiana Desmore, Florida Gulf Coast University

Academic advising is a collaboration between advisors and students intended to help students set and achieve academic goals, collect meaningful information, and make informed decisions about their educational and career goals (NACADA, 2003). Advisors provide students with holistic support while they navigate personal and professional pathways both in and beyond higher education. While this collaboration presents many challenges for academic advisors, students preparing to become teachers frequently require additional levels of understanding and support. There is a gap in the research related to advising strategies for advisors supporting future teachers. The authors of this article offer strategies designed to combat common challenges in teacher preparation programs based on their practice and experience over the past 20 years as academic advisors and advising administrators for teacher education programs. This discussion includes recommendations to manage program complexities, recruit and retain BIPOC students, and help students overcome significant barriers to degree completion.

Manage Program Complexities

The US Department of Education (2023) reported that there are 2,217 colleges, universities, and agencies offering more than 26,576 degrees to 600,011 students in teacher preparation programs. Program types include traditional providers, alternative programs within higher education institutions, and alternative programs independent of colleges and universities. Degree options within these program types include undergraduate majors, minors, and concentrations; five-year undergraduate degrees; and graduate degree programs. Since program types and degree options are varied and complex, some advising strategies to help students understand and navigate the diverse routes to success include:

• Develop an understanding that each area of licensure has its own distinctive program, and that each area has requirements that are different from all other teacher licensure programs.
• Utilize a set of focused questions designed to help students select the teacher licensure program that best fits with their educational goals and career aspirations.
• Inform students that teacher preparation pathways are complex and difficult to navigate. Reassure them that you are there to help advise and guide them through the program.

The professional standards within teacher preparation consist of three separate components: student performance, essential knowledge, and critical dispositions (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2013). Academic advisors may find it useful to adopt the following strategies to help students achieve competence in these and other professional standards:

• Foster student understanding of the size and scope of required coursework, including content area knowledge, instructional pedagogy, and field placement experiences.
• Recognize that field experiences often place significant levels of stress on students. Help students reduce commitments and find additional supports during these placements.
• Educate and hold students accountable for meeting professional teacher dispositions, including attendance, promptness, time management, and culturally responsive practices.

There are many professional standards for students to meet in teacher preparation programs. Students frequently find these requirements difficult to understand and challenging to achieve. It is important that academic advisors become informed of all of the degree program requirements and are also willing to provide students with additional levels of knowledge and support.

Recruit and Retain BIPOC Students

Recruiting students into teacher preparation programs is challenging. Over the past ten years, students pursuing education majors declined by 13.2%, while program graduates declined by 20.5% (US Department of Education, 2023). BIPOC students account for less than 30% of their traditional program cohorts. While their enrollments increased to 40% in alternative programs, and they may be as high as 60% in independent programs, retention rates are significantly lower in those programs than in college and university programs (Saenz-Armstrong, 2023). The result is that 80% of all K-12 teachers in America are white (Will, 2022). Advising professionals have long known that “academic advising is the very core of successful institutional efforts to educate and retain students” (Tinto, 1987, as cited in Nutt, 2003, para. 4); there is no indication that these student recruitment and completion statistics are likely to change without advising support. Thus, advisors are encouraged to use the following strategies when they collaborate with admissions professionals to recruit BIPOC students into teacher preparation programs:

• Read and discuss literature about culturally responsive practices in student recruitment.
• Review applications and highlight the merits of students who diversify their cohorts.
• Inform BIPOC students of campus and community services that provide academic and social support, as well as opportunities for creating and extending their identity networks.

Retaining BIPOC students in teacher preparation programs is another significant challenge. According to Carver-Thomas (2018), only 25% of Black, Native American, and Alaska Natives graduate from college in four years, and only 41% graduate in six years. Two-thirds of the states require students to pass the Praxis Series Exams which Black and Latinx teacher candidates fail disproportionately (Carver-Thomas, 2018). These and other student retention statistics are also unlikely to change without advising support. When collaborating with program faculty and staff, some advising strategies to implement to support BIPOC students include:

• Participate in DEI training and development conferences and seminars designed to improve and expand upon current culturally responsive policies and practices.
• Assess and determine how to address implicit biases and how they impact professional advising values and academic advising practices.
• Encourage BIPOC students to seek out student organizations and campus resources that support their interests and identities, while helping them network with community allies.
• Reach out to BIPOC teachers and invite them to serve as student mentors through the entirety of the teacher preparation program and into the early years of professional work.

Culturally responsive practice should be supported with advising strategies designed to recruit and retain BIPOC students in teacher preparation programs. Harding (2012) reminds advising professionals that “understanding our diverse students is just the first step in becoming a culturally competent advisor. The additional challenge is getting to know ourselves better and understanding our world view and how that view may or may not serve as a barrier to helping students” (para. 12).

Help Students Overcome Barriers to Completion

Teacher preparation programs are expensive. Students must pay for tuition, computers, textbooks, transportation, standardized tests, and more. There are also hidden fees associated with early professional practice such as workplace certifications (e.g., First Aid); background checks and fingerprinting fees; and transportation costs to field placements, job interviews, and the workplace. Academic advisors should be aware that new teacher salaries often start lower than those that comprise the national average (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). Consider these strategies to help students overcome financial barriers into the teaching profession:

• Share information about the additional costs associated with field placements, position interviewing, and state licensure requirements.
• Act as an advocate for students who are in need of financial support for assessment fees and other costs of the profession.
• Develop a working knowledge of student financial aid resources and community services like food pantries, clothing banks, and public transportation alternatives.
• Direct students to financial planning, particularly in programs that restrict students from working other jobs when they are not paid for their student teaching experiences.
• Collaborate closely with students to develop an understanding of their unique personal and professional needs, such as supporting field experiences close to their places of residence and permitting qualified candidates to work while student teaching.

Students planning to become teachers in public schools must be licensed by a state department of education. Academic advisors should be able to explain the terminology used in teacher education programs to their students. For example, “certification” and “licensure” are used interchangeably in some states, while not in others (University of Kansas School of Education & Human Sciences, 2024). Advising professionals should be knowledgeable of the grade levels for certification and the subject areas for endorsement. The process of becoming certified can be completed after degree completion in some states, while others require it prior to degree conferral (McPherson, 2024). Finally, advisors should inform students that they will need to submit an application and statutory requirements to their state department of education to attain appropriate grade level licensure and subject area endorsements. Given the many barriers students need to overcome to obtain their teaching credentials, the following strategies are recommended:

• Become knowledgeable about the tests and other statutory requirements for program completion and licensure.
• Serve as a gatekeeper to prevent students from spending additional time and money if they have not met required program benchmarks and licensure requirements.
• Recommend remedial coursework to students who struggle with specific content area knowledge: e.g., mathematics, sciences, and writing.
• Suggest tutoring, test blueprints, coursework, and study aids for required examinations.
• Encourage students to study for and practice taking state and/or national assessments.

Academic advisors develop and foster relationships among students, staff, faculty, and community members. They provide support to students struggling with academic coursework. They keep students on task and in sequence throughout their program coursework. Good practice in teacher preparation programs, however, demands more of advising professionals. Advisors must be informed that each step of their students’ journey is filled with complex challenges and exciting opportunities. Successful academic advising begins at the earliest stages of student recruitment, becomes focused and informative to ensure student retention, and continues through the final stages of program and degree completion and state licensure attainment.

References

Carver-Thomas, D. (2018). Diversifying the teaching profession: How to recruit and retain teachers of color. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/559.310

Council of Chief State School Officers. (2013, April). InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development.

Harding, B. (2012). BIPOC students. NACADA Clearinghouse. http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/ View-Articles/Advising-students-of-color.aspx

McPherson, L. (2024). What is teacher certification reciprocity? https://www.teachercertificationdegrees.com/reciprocity/

NACADA (2003). Definitions of academic advising [Paper presented to the task force on defining academic advising]. https://nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/Definitions-of-academic-advising.aspx

National Center for Education Statistics (2021). Estimated average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools [Digest of Education Statistics 2021]. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_211.50.asp?current=yes

Tinto, V. (1987). Increasing student retention. Jossey Bass.

University of Kansas School of Education & Human Sciences. (2024). Is a teaching license the same as being certified to teach? KU Online Education Graduate Programs Blog. https://educationonline.ku.edu/community/is-a-teaching-license-the-same-as-being-certified-to-teach

US Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education. (2023, July). Preparing and credentialing the nation’s teachers: The secretary’s 13th report on the teacher workforce. https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx

Will, M. (2022). Fewer people are getting teacher degrees. Prep programs sound the alarm. Education Week, 41(28). https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/fewer-people-are-getting-teacher-degrees-prep-programs-sound-the-alarm/2022/03