Broward College and Broward County Public Schools Partner on Grant to Address Teaching Shortage in Career and Technical Ed

Fort Lauderdale, Fla (December 4, 2017) – Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), in collaboration with Broward College, has been awarded the Career and Technical Education Teacher Pathway Initiative (CTE TPI) grant by the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED). The grant will provide funding to increase the pipeline of high school career and technical education (CTE) teachers in computer science (CS) and career information technology (IT CTE) programs in Broward County. 

"According to Code.org, Florida currently has more than 20,000 open computing jobs which underscore a systemic skills gap in Broward County," said Dr. Jeffrey Nasse, Dean of Education at Broward College. "In response, Broward College and its partners will focus on supplying the K-12 system with highly-trained and knowledgeable teachers who will inspire and educate the next generation of business, computer science, and information technology professionals."

The program, known as the Broward Educating Superior Technology Teachers (BESTT) will increase the supply of CS and IT CTE teachers through four main initiatives:

• Incentivizing current Broward College students to receive a Bachelor of Applied Science in Education and become certified in Business Education which allows them to teach computer science courses,
• Recruiting industry professionals to take the Business Education grades 6-12 certification exam following completion of the Broward College Educator Preparation Institute (EPI),
• Preparing current BCPS teachers to become certified in Business Education through preparation courses at Broward College, and
• Offering existing BCPSCTE teachers the opportunity to advance their knowledge and expand their certification expertise into the high demand fields of computer science.

The partners, which include CareerSource Broward and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, will use face-to-face counseling, career fairs, hiring fairs, in addition to website and email alerts to communicate effectively with potential candidates for each initiative. This initiative will also target more females, an underrepresented group, as CS and IT CTE teachers.

Each year, the BESTT program will work to identify five current Broward College candidates for the Bachelor of Applied Science in Education and offer ten existing CS and IT CTE teachers access to courses at Broward College in preparation for the Business Education certification. The goal is to increase the number of CS and IT CTE educators by 50 percent at the culmination of five years.

The Teacher Education Program at Broward College offers students the opportunity to receive their bachelor's degree in ESE, middle school or high school mathematics, middle school science or secondary biology. Students learn from experienced K-12 instructors who implement the most up-to-date and inventive learning strategies. Classes are available at each of the three main campuses, as well as options for students interested in blended or fully online programs. Each semester, students in the TEP also acquire in-field experience inside K-12 classrooms in Broward County. In recent years, 100 percent of students who graduate from TEP secure employment within the next major term.

For more information, visit the Broward College TEP page.