LEAP! : LEARNING AND EDUCATING THROUGH ALTERNATE PROGRAMS: BLENDING ONLINE CLASSES, FACE-TO-FACE CLASSES AND SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS IN AN EFFORT TO RECRUIT MORE TEACHERS IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI (USA)

1. Introduction

This Master of Arts in Teaching-Secondary (MAT-S) program is funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education as result of a grant proposal written by Mississippi State University faculty at the Starkville and Meridian campuses. The program is a 14-month cohort program. Students take 36 hours in a summer-fall-spring-summer2 format. Students teach in high-need Local Education Agencies (School Districts/LEAs) while working on this Master’s program. 50% of the courses are offered face-to-face (summers) and 50% of the courses are offered online (fall & spring).

Mississippi Statistics that can severely impact student learning:

- State Population- 2,938,618 (almost 3 million)
- 46% of children live in very rural areas
- Per Capita Income: under $27,000 (2006) which is the lowest in the 50 states
- 24% of children live in poverty
- Single-Parent Families- Highest in Nation, just over 25%
- Graduation Rate: 75% Nation; Mississippi- 63% (National Assessment of Educational Progress- NAEP)

Report by Clarion-Ledger (Mississippi’s most popular newspaper):

- As reported by the Clarion-Ledger, a state-wide newspaper, in December 2008: “With 2,397 teachers in classrooms in Mississippi on emergency licenses, the state is facing a teacher shortage that could worsen next year if even a fraction of the 6,000 veteran educators eligible to retire actually do so.” Mississippi has a teaching shortage, in part because too few education majors graduate from the state's schools of education to fill the need, and also many who do graduate go out-of-state to higher-paying jobs.