The Georgia Department of Education has secured more than $10 million in combined federal funding to grow its teacher apprenticeship system, allowing paraprofessionals and aspiring special education instructors to earn a salary while completing coursework toward certification. The agency is working with the University of West Georgia and the National Center for Grow Your Own to carry out the expansion under its Teach in the Peach initiative.
How the funding breaks down
A $5.98 million Teacher Quality Partnership grant will expand pathways that move paraprofessionals into full teaching roles and strengthen mentoring support for new educators. A second award, roughly $4.3 million, targets registered apprenticeships specifically for candidates pursuing special education certification. Both grants build on earlier work funded by a $3.9 million Apprenticeship Building America grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, which supported 195 teaching apprentices over two years through the department's Office of Rural Education and Innovation.
What the model offers candidates
The apprenticeship structure lets current school employees, often paraprofessionals already embedded in classrooms, continue earning income while they finish required coursework and gain supervised teaching experience. State Superintendent Richard Woods framed the approach as a way to reduce financial barriers for staff who already have ties to their school communities. "Some of Georgia's best future teachers are already working in our schools," Woods said, adding that the goal is to help them advance "without having to leave their jobs or take on unnecessary financial burdens."
Roles for university and nonprofit partners
The University of West Georgia will serve as the first university partner designing an enhanced apprenticeship framework, which is expected to include credit for prior learning and expanded mentoring for incoming teachers. Mike Dishman, dean of UWG's College of Education, called the grant a component of the state's broader strategy to strengthen its teaching workforce. The National Center for Grow Your Own will provide technical assistance to help local districts build internal teacher-preparation capacity; its founder, David Donaldson, pointed to the two federal awards as evidence of Georgia's standing in national apprenticeship efforts.
Next steps for the rollout
Officials said the enhanced framework will launch first with the University of West Georgia before being scaled to additional educator preparation programs and school districts statewide. The effort follows Teach in the Peach's recent launch of a statewide teacher job board, developed with the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, as part of broader state efforts to recruit and retain classroom teachers.