By: Jasmine West
Detroit Public Schools Community District is taking a different approach to one of public education’s most persistent problems: finding qualified teachers and keeping them in classrooms.
Instead of relying exclusively on traditional university teacher preparation programs, DPSCD has spent the past several years building its own pipeline.
On the Rise Academy, launched in 2021, is the district’s alternative teacher certification program for aspiring educators who already hold bachelor’s degrees but have not completed a traditional teacher preparation program. The academy recruits heavily from Detroit and from people who already have relationships with DPSCD students, including substitute teachers, paraprofessionals and other district employees.
Six cohorts into the program, DPSCD says On the Rise Academy has grown from roughly 60 to 65 participants in its first cohort to about 180 to 185 current and former fellows.
“We’re often pulling from our substitute teacher ranks,” DPSCD Chief Human Resources Officer Ben Jackson said. “Sometimes we find substitutes [who have] never been certified, but have been in a classroom teaching and building relationships with kids. That’s a great place for us to focus and pull from. They’re committed to the success of DPSCD. We just want to get them certified and in a classroom by themselves.”
That local pipeline is central to the academy’s model.
About half of its potential talent pool consists of former Detroit Public Schools or DPSCD students, according to the district, while roughly 70% previously worked for DPSCD in some capacity. Candidates have entered the program from backgrounds ranging from clerical work and counseling to public safety.
More than 80% of candidates identify as people of color, with roughly 80% to 86% identifying as Black or African American. DPSCD also says Black men make up approximately 20% of On the Rise graduates, a particularly notable figure in a profession where Black men remain underrepresented.
The academy currently offers certification pathways in lower elementary education for grades PK-3, upper elementary for grades 3-6, secondary integrated science for grades 6-12, mathematics for either grades 5-9 or 7-12, and cognitive impairment.
The path to becoming a teacher through On the Rise is still demanding.
Applicants must meet Michigan’s minimum alternative certification requirements, including holding a bachelor’s degree. Jackson said the Michigan Department of Education generally establishes a 3.0 GPA threshold, although the academy may consider applicants slightly below that mark when other experience demonstrates their potential.
Experience working with children can weigh heavily in those decisions.
“What we want is people who have experience working with kids,” Jackson said.
Candidates also interview and deliver a sample lesson that is evaluated using the academy’s instructional standards. Applicants may be asked to reteach the lesson after receiving feedback, giving program leaders an early look at how well a candidate can respond to coaching.
Those admitted begin with coursework during the winter and spring. Fellows complete asynchronous online modules along with monthly, in-person professional development designed to prepare them for the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification and for the academy’s summer Pre-Service Institute.
The institute places fellows into a multi-week field experience before they take full responsibility for classrooms.
Candidates who successfully complete the institute and pass the required certification exam can become eligible for a Michigan Interim Teaching Certificate and a teaching contract at a DPSCD school that fall.
The training is intentionally tied to the classrooms where fellows will eventually work.
On the Rise operates around five priorities: recruiting locally, building a diverse educator workforce, providing certification at no cost to participants who commit to teaching in DPSCD for at least six years, aligning training directly with district classrooms and providing intensive preparation and coaching.
Unlike many alternative certification routes, the academy is operated by the district without a university partner.
That allows DPSCD to train prospective educators using the same curriculum expectations, instructional practices and evaluation tools they are expected to encounter once hired.
It also means candidates face ongoing performance reviews. Fellows who do not meet the academy’s benchmarks can be removed from the cohort, although they may have an opportunity to reapply the following year.
For Jackson, maintaining those standards is necessary if the district wants the academy to become something larger than a response to teacher vacancies.
“We’ve done some initial research internally around the effectiveness of our fellows,” Jackson said. “What we find is they are just as good as other first-year teachers, particularly coming out of alternative certification programs, and they’re actually better the longer they stay with us.”
By their third year, Jackson said, On the Rise educators are outperforming third-year teachers entering DPSCD from other preparation programs, based on the district’s internal analysis.
“What we want is to really grow that improvement and [for] these teachers to be the absolute best in their effectiveness,” he said.
The program has already produced educators who have moved into leadership.
Demarco James entered On the Rise after finding that previous university-based certification options did not provide the level of challenge he wanted. He later became a DPSCD teacher and has since moved into administration as assistant principal at Communication Media Arts High School.
DPSCD is now considering how the academy could expand.
Special education, exceptional education and English as a second language represent areas where staffing needs continue to create demand for specifically trained educators. The district is pursuing approval for an ESL endorsement and is also considering additional certifications that could be offered to teachers already working within DPSCD.
For a district trying to strengthen its educator pipeline, the long-term goal is not simply bringing more adults into classrooms.
It is preparing people who already know Detroit’s children, neighborhoods and schools to stay long enough to become experienced teachers and, potentially, the district’s next generation of instructional leaders.
