Could online certifications help with school teacher shortages in Virginia?

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Could online teaching programs help Virginia solve its teacher shortage?

The program is called iTeach and it offers an online path to getting teacher certification.

“The teacher shortage crisis is not unique to Virginia,” Andrew Rozell, president of certification for iTeach said.

Rozell explained that the program offers a simpler route to getting certified without going back to college.

“Sometimes that’s not a viable option for individuals, whether it’s financial or driving to a campus,” Rozell said. “So iTeach is just there to be an option that’s accessible, it's affordable.”

The program starts online with instruction and test prep for the certification program. Rozell said the second part is an in-class training portion.

"George Mason University, University of Virginia, and William and Mary  all hold the same accreditation,” Rozell said. "We are the only non-university to ever earn that status.“

Last week, Virginia gave approval for iTeach to partner with 25 school districts the Commonwealth. In the DMV that approval came in Arlington and Fairfax. Rozell said they will begin working in those counties this week in two ways.

The first is to address the current teachers in the area with provisional licenses. iTeach will create a route to full licenses for them.  

The second program will be recruiting people who are not teachers to make a career change and use iTeach as the route to get there. Rozell said the iTeach program isn’t a cure-all for the teacher shortages.

“I think the solution to the teacher crisis is a myriad of things,” he explained. “We need to address teacher attrition and retention. But iTeach is looking to be an option and play a role in the recruitment of new teachers.”

Virginia is not the first state to partner with iTeach. It started in Texas 20 years ago and has expanded to 11 other states.