Policy & Teaching | News

Campaign Aims To Bolster Teacher Recruitment

• By Leila Meyer
• 12/02/13

A new public awareness campaign conceived by the TEACH coalition and the Ad Council has been launched to encourage top students to consider a career in education. The campaign, called Make More, was announced by United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

According to the TEACH coalition, half of the nation's teachers will be eligible to retire over the next decade, but only 9 percent of students in the top third of their class consider teaching as a career option. To encourage more talented students to enter the profession, the coalition has developed a series of public service announcements (PSAs) for television, radio, outdoor, and digital media. The PSAs feature real teachers conducting innovative lessons. They aim to shift students' perception of the career to one of making a difference in students' lives, not just earning a paycheck.

In conjunction with the PSAs, the TEACH coalition's site provides additional information about the profession to help students decide if it's the right career for them. The coalition has also recruited student ambassadors on 50 campuses in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. to introduce their peers to the teaching profession through campus events.

According to the TEACH coalition, the campaign is targeted to recruit specific populations, particularly those who "represent the nation’s increasingly diverse student body and can effectively prepare students for the jobs of the future, many of which will be in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields."

The TEACH coalition is a partnership of the U.S. Department of Education, private companies, education organizations, and teacher associations. Further information about the Make More campaign can be found at teach.org.