On the first day of school for the 2024-25 school year, there were more than 5,000 vacant teaching positions in Florida, and hundreds of thousands across the U.S. according to Florida Education Association’s (FEA) count of vacancies.
The stakes have never been higher.
Enter, Achieve Miami’s Teacher Accelerator Program, TAP.
TAP is a non-profit organization creating a pipeline of talent for the teaching profession through recruiting, preparing, and mentoring aspiring educators.
TAP equips college students and career changers with the skills, knowledge, and certification necessary to become a teacher and excel in the classroom. TAP participants take a one-semester course, followed by a six-week paid summer internship, earn a certificate to teach, and begin instructing in a Miami-Dade County public, private, or charter school classroom.
TAP is an initiative of Achieve Miami, supported by Teach for America Miami-Dade, and is offered by the University of Miami, Florida International University and Miami-Dade College.
Following its first year at the University of Miami in 2023, the education nonprofit expanded to Florida International University and Miami-Dade College, making TAP accessible to both college seniors and qualified individuals with a bachelor’s degree.
Now in its second year, TAP has more than tripled its impact: 151 participants have successfully graduated from this year’s program and are ready to teach in public, private, and charter school classrooms during the 2024-25 school year, up from 43 participants during its first year.
“Between college seniors planning their next move and so-called “career changers” pivoting to education from another field, there is a deep pool of talent eager to teach. Many of these individuals possess skills and backgrounds tailor-made for the classroom,” said Leslie Miller Saiontz, Founder of Achieve Miami’s Teacher Accelerator Program, in a recent Miami Herald editorial.
“South Florida is full of talent, both at our local colleges and across the workforce, and we find that many qualified individuals are excited about a flexible and fulfilling career in education,” said Jasmine Calin-Micek, Senior Director of the Teacher Accelerator Program. “TAP’s success in Miami is proving that when you offer an onramp to teaching, there’s no shortage of demand.”
Recently, The Miami Times profiled TAP participant Tylor Housen, who embarked on a career in teaching this fall and is now working full-time at Frederick Douglass Elementary.
“I feel like not only I’m teaching kids, but they’re teaching me a lot about myself and the world,” he added.
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