Washougal School District finds creative way to help fill staffing gaps

Like many school districts in Southwest Washington, the Washougal School District is currently scrambling to find qualified substitutes to fill in for staff members who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The challenge is not new for the district, which identified teacher shortages in several of its departments a few years ago and moved quickly to address them.

Washougal’s ESD-U teacher certification program, a partnership between Educational Service District 112 (ESD 112) and the Washougal School District, offers alternative options to teacher certification for classified staff members and a “retooling” route for certified teachers seeking to add an endorsement.

“It allows us to identify staff that we know have already been in classrooms and are looking for (a new career path),” Washougal School District’s assistant superintendent, Renae McMurray, said. “Maybe a paraeducator wants to become a teacher, or maybe a teacher wants to change specialties — instead of working as a grade-level teacher, for example, they want to be a special education teacher.”

McMurray said four Washougal School District employees have earned this type of alternative certification through the program over the past four years.

“It’s a win-win,” she said. “It’s a benefit for the district because it meets our staffing needs, and it benefits our employees who are looking for a streamlined (option) that saves them time and money and allows them to still work as they pursue that opportunity. It’s rewarding to see those teachers who have participated in the program have their own classroom and flourish. That’s a real positive to see them with students and see that it’s a good fit and this was made possible by this partnership. It’s really awesome.”

ESD 112 launched the ESD-U program in 2018, offering certificates in English language learning, reading, special education and elementary education.

“ESD-U’s real-world course content, mentoring support and district engagement allow for a smooth transition between learning and serving students in the classroom,” Mike Esping, ESD 112’s director of educator effectiveness and early career development, stated in a news release about the program.

The Washougal School District has used the program to fill staffing shortages in its special education and English language learning departments.

“There was a presentation at ESD 112, and as we were watching that, we were thinking about challenges in finding staff for our special education program, and that’s how we really started with this program — supporting teachers who wanted to pursue special education certification,” McMurray said. “And English language learning has become a new need for us now that we have our dual-language program. We’re looking to make sure we have bilingual staff to support that program. Finding educators that are bilingual and can reach multilingual learners is really important.”

To earn their certifications, ESD-U students must attend courses, complete field experience hours in classroom settings and pass a state-required assessment. Students can often use their current classroom positions to fulfill most of the field experience requirements.

“They’re able to continue working with us to fulfill those requirements versus having to take a leave of absence to take courses and get field experience,” McMurray said. “This allows someone to continue working and meet those requirements at the same time. That part fulfills a need, too, because for a lot of people, once they enter the job market, it’s hard to take time away to pursue their education and meet those student teaching or field experience requirements.”

The program also provides certificated teachers with a pathway to an endorsement in another education specialty.

“Some teachers have a certification but are looking at what they call ‘retooling,’ or adding another endorsement,” McMurray said. “We have elementary education teachers that have found that they have a heart for special education, so they decide they want to ‘retool’ and add an endorsement to their certification. That’s another use of that program — it supports our current teachers if they’re looking to pursue one of the areas that we have a shortage in.”

Veronica Paredes, a dual-language teacher at Hathaway Elementary School, participated in ESD-U to earn a certificate in English language learning (ELL) and elementary education.

“I had a job as an ELL paraeducator and the teacher told me about the classes at ESD-U,” Paredes said. “I also heard about it from a student teacher who studied there. After that, I asked the Washougal School District, and Renae McMurray gave me more information, and I started getting all the documents I needed to apply.”

Parades said the program fit her better than more traditional teacher certification programs since the program’s flexibility allowed her to complete the required coursework and field experience as part of her current job.

“Their class schedules are accessible when you have a full-time job. All the instructors and staff have a lot of experience. They teach and guide you,” Paredes said.