What would you do with $10 million to support rural schools? When we asked Marzano Research’s rural education team this question, it sparked a passionate discussion about innovative solutions.
Now, our rural education team is asking the same of other experts, one of whom is Dr. Robert Fulton.
Dr. Robert Fulton
Fulton serves as director of the Colorado Center for Rural Education (CCRE), which aims to build rural educator capacity and ensure excellent education through professional development and advocacy. In his 35 years in education, Fulton has championed PK-20 schools. As a former superintendent and administrator, he has keen insight into strategies to strengthen the rural educator pipeline. For the past three years, Marzano Research has worked with CCRE to analyze the relationship between receiving a stipend from CCRE and teacher retention.
With a hypothetical $10 million, Fulton said he would provide financial support to rural Colorado paraprofessionals to complete their bachelor’s degrees through universities offering fully online undergraduate teacher preparation programs leading to licensure.
“This would help to alleviate the teacher shortage and diversify the rural teacher corps,” said Fulton.
Investment in addressing these two needs is critical. Colorado was rated as having one of the lowest “teacher attractiveness” ratings nationwide by the Learning Policy Institute. And growing their own teachers hasn’t yet been enough to close the gap in Colorado. According to CCRE data, the state has 147 rural districts serving 148,372 students, but produces less than half the teachers required to educate them. In 2022-23, 787 rural Colorado teaching positions were filled by shortage measures and 324 went unfilled entirely.
This challenge is not unique to Colorado. The teacher shortage is a nationwide problem—one that worsened during the pandemic. And the Economic Policy Institute reported that teacher pay, a factor contributing to the shortage, has declined more sharply than the pay for other similarly educated professionals. In 2022, the average teacher made 26.4% less than other college-educated workers—the biggest difference since 1960. In Colorado, the average teacher weekly wage penalty is -37.4%.
In addition to low teacher pay, Fulton believes a second root cause of the Colorado shortage is marginalized groups’ limited opportunities.
“The teacher shortage remains at crisis levels in the rural West. Along with that, the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our rural teacher corps is a disservice to all students and communities,” explained Fulton. “Providing direct-to-paraprofessionals financial support is one way to address both of these challenges at the same time.”
The State of Colorado already provides some stipends to paraprofessionals enrolled in online teacher preparation programs, Fulton said. However, he emphasized that more is needed.
“This is having an impact on rural districts throughout the state, but the money does not go far enough,” Fulton said.
“A primary barrier to this includes higher education’s antipathy toward online learning,” he continued. “Yet online teacher preparation is essential for rural Colorado where residents have limited access to higher education.”
Fulton is optimistic that more funding to help rural paraprofessionals complete their credentials online would have an immediate impact. He would measure this strategy’s success by tracking the number of new rural teachers and their diversity demographics.
Even when budgets are limited, transformative change can still happen through creativity and collaboration. Our goal at Marzano Research is to turn your education dreams into reality. With expertise in rural education as well as early education, school improvement, and classroom practice, we’re ready to bring sustainable, evidence-backed solutions to rural districts and schools. Reach out to our rural practice leaders, Caitlin Scott or Steven Tedeschi, to learn more.
About Dr. Fulton
Dr. Robert Fulton brings over three decades of experience serving PK-20 education. As a former rural superintendent and higher education administrator, he has been a steadfast advocate for rural learners and organizations that help build opportunities in rural communities. Currently, he serves as Director of the CCRE, working to improve outcomes for rural students by building educator capacity across Colorado. Dr. Fulton holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a WK Kellogg doctoral fellow and was awarded honorary lifetime membership into Phi Kappa Phi. He also holds a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Colorado at Denver and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His mission is to create excellence in teaching and learning while expanding access to education for all students.
Sources
Allegretto, S. (2023, September 29). Teacher pay penalty still looms large: Trends in teacher wages and compensation through 2022. Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-in-2022/
Fulton, R. (2023). Colorado Center for Rural Education Advisory Committee Report [PowerPoint slides].
K-12 Education: Education Should Assess Its Efforts to Address Teacher Shortages. (2022, October 27). U.S. Government Accountability Office. Retrieved February 7, 2024, from https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105180
The State of the Teacher Workforce. (2023, July 27). Learning Policy Institute. Retrieved February 7, 2024, from https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/state-of-teacher-workforce-interactive
