Future Educators Academy will train new teachers while they're still in high school

A new teacher preparation program could soon send Fauquier County students back into the classroom just years after high school graduation, only this time as teachers.

The Future Educators Academy is a dual enrollment program that will allow high school juniors and seniors to complete coursework to earn their high school diploma while earning an associate’s degree in education at the same time.

If they go straight to a four-year institution and immediately earn a bachelor’s degree, they could be teachers by age 20 or 21.

The program, a partnership between Laurel Ridge and Germanna community colleges and James Madison University, aims to shore up the teacher shortage in Virginia while recruiting diverse educators, especially for rural areas like Culpeper, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and even Fauquier County.

Graduates will receive guaranteed admission to James Madison upon completion of their associate’s degree, where they can earn a bachelor’s degree in education in as little as two years.

In addition to giving students a leg up on eventually earning a four-year degree and their teaching license – it’s also free.

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Thanks to $7 million in state funding for the first three years of the program, tuition and fees will be covered for the up to 15 Fauquier County students who enroll. Transportation to Laurel Ridge’s Fauquier campus will also be provided, Brenda Byard, a former dean and head of early college and high school partnerships for Laurel Ridge, told the Fauquier County school board Monday night.

The program is launching this fall with its first cohort of high school juniors but is not available to Fauquier students until the fall of 2025.

The college will spend several months getting the word out about the opportunity to rising sophomores who will be able to apply when the application period opens this fall.

High school seniors who graduate with an associate’s degree could potentially earn a bachelor’s degree in education by age 20 or 21, Byard and several board members noted.

“(Age) was a topic of concern when it first came up,” Fauquier County Superintendent Major Warner acknowledged during Monday’s meeting. “You are talking about mature kids who feel a calling to be a teacher, who can step into that role.”

Board chair Susan Pauling, who regularly calls upon the division’s director of human resources to give a report on staff vacancies, said it comes down to whether folks want qualified people in the classroom.

"Is the preference having someone coming back in at age 20 who may be a teacher…or a long-term substitute who has no background in teaching,” she said.

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Graduates of the program would be required to return to the school district they graduated from to teach for at least two years after graduating from a four-year university.

The program is aimed at students interested in elementary education and/or special education, but even students interested in other areas or grade levels could benefit and build on the experience.

The program is in part made possible by Virginia’s college partnership lab school initiative which allocates per-pupil funding to innovative start-ups based out of colleges and universities. Germanna Community College in Stafford County will officially house the lab school and the 2024 cohort of students.

The move comes as states across the country work to bolster a struggling teacher workforce and turn away from traditional educator preparation programs at four-year universities to alternative models like “grow your own programs” that train existing school staff to become certified or give current students a leg up on their way to becoming educators.

Deputy editor Meghan Mangrum can be reached at mmangrum@fauquier.com.

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