Five universities collaborate to address Michigan teacher shortage

Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Michigan and Western Michigan universities, along with Michigan State, will participate in a two-year initiative to improve teacher preparation
The initiative, a partnership with the Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative, is based on the best practices of a model in Arkansas
Each university will get $100,000 award over two years

Five public universities in Michigan are teaming up to tackle the state’s teacher shortage.

The universities will participate in a new two-year statewide initiative to improve teacher preparation, recruitment, retention and quality in a collaboration with the nonprofit Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative.

The Education Preparation Provider Collaborative will include Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University and Western Michigan University.

The effort aims to be responsive to school districts’ needs for teachers while also offering more flexible and affordable pathways to the teaching profession.

Its goal, officials said Thursday, is to strengthen the state’s talent pipeline.

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According to a newly released report, Michigan’s teacher workforce is churning at an unsustainable rate, forcing districts to rely increasingly on instructors with temporary or interim credentials.

The report, from the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University, found that in 2024-25 about 8,000 teachers entered the field in Michigan. But 7,900 teachers exited during that time.

Nearly 3% of full time equivalent teaching positions in Michigan were vacant in 2024-25, according to the report. The highest vacancies were in urban districts and those where most students are economically disadvantaged.

Focus on teacher prep

Michigan’s teacher shortage is critical, and needs of school districts are changing, said Jack Elsey, CEO and founding partner of Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative.

“Districts are expecting more and different from our teachers from literacy and math instruction to working with colleagues to how teachers analyze data to better inform their instruction,” Elsey said Thursday during a virtual roundtable discussion.

“And yet, the vast majority of teachers in this state are developed in the traditional way by attending a university-based educator preparation program … the collaborative is supporting some of the state’s largest education (programs) to innovate and improve new teacher development across a number of areas including cost, access, retention rates, practical experiences and more.”

There have been strategic shifts and approaches made across the nation to address the teacher shortage, Elsey said, but this collaborative is based on the best practices of a model in Arkansas, which was experiencing a teacher shortage.

It will introduce “scalable, high-quality models” for teacher preparation by establishing partnerships between teacher preparation programs and pre-K-12 districts, officials said.

The Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative will pay each participating university $100,000, using funds allocated by the state.

“If all Michigan students are going to be successful readers, problem solvers and have access to post-secondary and career success, meeting those goals starts with how we prepare teachers,” said Ryan Gildersleeve, dean of the Eastern Michigan University College of Education.

The two-year process aims to revitalize educator preparation programs.

“We’re excited to learn from and deepen our collaboration with school districts to create tighter connections and feedback loops to schools not just to ensure that our teacher candidates secure a job when they graduate,” said WMU president Russ Kavalhuna, “but to ensure our program is being responsive to the skills and habits teachers need to be successful. School districts know what they are looking for, and we want to be a strong provider of talent for them.”