A new partnership between UNC Pembroke and Richmond Community College will create a seamless path for aspiring teachers to become part of the state’s teacher pipeline. The initiative is designed to recruit teachers who have a desire to serve their communities.
Chancellor Robin Gary Cummings and RCC President Dale McInnis launched the Growing Your Own Teachers partnership during a signing event at RCC this week.
The agreement allows RCC students to complete either an Associate in Arts or an Associate in Science in Teacher Preparation degree before transferring to UNCP to complete a major in the Educator Preparation Program (EPP). The two associate degrees are new to RCC.
“This partnership is a step forward to promote a pipeline of well-trained, experienced and educated teachers who will return to Richmond and Scotland counties, to educate the teachers, the doctors, the engineers, the scientists–the leaders of tomorrow,” Cummings said.
The agreement will offer four new pre-requisite courses at RCC and students will be enrolled through dual enrollment their last semester at Richmond. Students will also have a chance to take the Praxis while at RCC and take advantage of scholarship opportunities, such as the Lois McKay Smith Memorial and RCC Guarantee, and NC Promise Tuition Plan at UNCP.
“We are going to be able to utilize all the tools and avenues to recognize the prestige, esteem and value that schoolteachers deserve,” McInnis said. “We are going to share resources, instead of competing for resources. This initiative makes it truly seamless.”
The partnership will address the teacher attrition issue in the region, McInnis added. “Rural North Carolina has to grow our own teachers because the current business model is not sustainable. We have talent, brains and willpower right here at home. They just need a pathway–a push in the right direction. We need to remove various roadblocks, and that’s exactly what this agreement will do.”
Gretchen Martin’s path to earning a teaching degree from UNCP began at RCC. She currently teaches in her hometown of Richmond County and has since returned to UNCP, obtaining a Master of Arts in Reading.
“This partnership makes a competitive education attainable for a diverse population of students–traditional and nontraditional. Starting at RCC and transferring to UNCP saves time, money and hassle for so many families,” she said.
Dr. Loury Floyd, dean of the School of Education at UNCP, also spoke during the signing, saying that if there’s not a strong supply of well-prepared teachers, nothing else in education can work.
“As the leader of the UNCP’s EPP, our mission has been, and will continue to be to ensure that southeast North Carolina has a strong supply of well-prepared teachers. This pathway will assist with meeting that goal.”
In his closing remarks, Cummings commented that partnerships like these are vitally important for the continued growth of southeastern North Carolina’s economy and essential to leverage the power and potential of RCC and UNCP to improve the lives of students and to move the region forward.
