Mississippi First and Study.com Partner to Tackle Miss. Teacher Shortage Crisis

Study.com will donate 500 test prep scholarships to the state

JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mississippi First, an education policy non-profit founded in 2008, is partnering with Study.com, a national EdTech platform, to launch Keys to the Classroom in the state of Mississippi. The initiative aims to help aspiring educators prepare for the Praxis, a required exam with a pass rate of 50% for first-time test takers, to earn their teaching credential.

Through this partnership, Study.com will donate comprehensive, cost-free materials and resources to aspiring Mississippi teachers to help them prepare and pass their teacher certification tests. Mississippi districts that have diverse student bodies, as well as those that have low socioeconomic conditions, will be prioritized for the licenses in an effort to address the rising teacher shortage crisis and ensure the demographics of Mississippi students are being represented in the classroom and across the state's teacher pipeline.

"The state of Mississippi is facing an overwhelming shortage of teachers and Study.com's Keys to the Classroom will to help tackle this crisis head-on," says Rachel Canter, Executive Director of Mississippi First. "Partnering with Study.com will allow Mississippi First to continue our mission to ensure educational excellence for every Mississippi child."

This partnership comes on the heels of Mississippi First's 2022 'Voices of the Shortage' survey of 6,496 Mississippi public education teachers, which provides the state's most comprehensive current resource for understanding the critical teacher shortage in Mississippi from teachers' perspectives.

The teachers surveyed reported compensation as a top reason for potentially leaving the profession, but even current teachers consider their exit, aspiring new teachers face challenges to enter, including the difficulty of passing their teacher certification tests such as the Praxis.

In fact, according to a 2019 report from the National Council on Teacher Quality, half of teachers fail their first certification exam and a quarter never pass. In contrast, 92% of teachers who used Study.com's test prep resources reported passing their test on the first try. 

In addition to a worsening teacher shortage, Mississippi also faces a decreasing number of both aspiring and current teachers of color. According to a report from Mississippi Department of Education, while 57% of Mississippi P-12 students identified as non-White; 70% of Mississippi teachers are White.

"Creating a more diverse and representative teacher pipeline is necessary to ensure students feel represented and encouraged. As Mississippi statistics show, this isn't being reflected in the classroom but is statistically proven and needed," said Study.com's Senior Vice President of Social Impact Dana Bryson. "Our goal with bringing Keys to the Classroom to Mississippi is to diversify the teacher pipeline and help reduce the teacher shortage by removing the barriers to becoming a teacher."

Study.com first launched Keys to the Classroom initiative last winter in Nevada, which had a teacher shortage of about 3,000. Since then, Study.com has donated 600 teacher test prep licenses in Nevada and has partnered with numerous educational organizations to support aspiring teachers and improve educational outcomes. Study.com also recently launched Keys to the Classroom in South Carolina this Spring.

The Keys to the Classroom initiative is part of Study.com's commitment to Pledge 1%, a corporate philanthropy movement dedicated to making the community a key stakeholder in every business. Pledge 1% continues the company's commitment to Making Education Accessible through social impact programs focused on increasing access and equity in education for underserved learners, non-traditional students, and educators.

For more information on Study.com's Keys to the Classroom scholarship, please visit
https://bit.ly/keystotheclassroom.

Study.com is a leading online education platform providing academic support for learners and educators. Recognized on the GSV EdTech 150 as a leading EdTech company, Study.com simplifies learning for over 30 million learners and educators a month. Study has donated $24 million in-kind value across social impact programs committed to Making Education Accessible through our Pledge 1% partnerships and programs focused on increasing access and equity in education for underserved learners.

Founded in 2008, Mississippi First is a nonprofit education organization whose mission is to champion transformation policy solutions ensuring educational excellence for every Mississippi child. Driven to change the fact that Mississippi has historically been last, our founders set a bold vision: a Mississippi first in education nationally. Today, Mississippi First is a leading voice for early childhood education, high-quality public charter schools, rigorous learning standards, commonsense testing and accountability policies, and strengthening Mississippi's educator pipeline.

SOURCE Study.com