A new initiative is training 500 NC school district employees to be teachers — without missing a paycheck
The newly announced North Carolina Teacher Apprenticeship and Workforce Advancement Initiative will allow teacher assistants, substitutes, and other school employees in N.C. school districts to “become licensed teachers while keeping their jobs and paychecks” through a five-year, $5.5 million federal grant, according to a recent press release. The initiative is designed to meet teacher shortages across the state.
The grant was awarded to Western Governors University (WGU) — an accredited, nonprofit online university — and its apprenticeship organization Craft Education, in partnership with The Innovation Project (TIP). Nearly half of the project is funded through the federal grant, the release says, while the other half “will be provided through nonfederal sources, including WGU, The Innovation Project and participating school districts.”
Across the 16 districts, TIP will lead its operation, running the program as a U.S. Department of Labor registered apprenticeship sponsor through ApprenticeshipNC. Participating districts range from rural Hertford, Warren, and Edgecombe counties to Wake, Guilford, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, according to Kathryn Peterson, WGU corporate communications and PR manager.
Peterson told EdNC that running the initiative through ApprenticeshipNC means “no district has to set up its own program.” Beginning in fall 2027, the initiative “will prepare 500 teacher apprentices and train 250 mentor teachers,” according to the release.
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NC’s teacher shortage
Last spring, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (DPI) found that the state’s teacher attrition rate, meaning the percent of teachers who left their role as a public school teacher, had increased slightly — from 9.88% in the 2023-24 school year to 10.11% in the 2024-25 school year.
There were 6,721 teacher vacancies overall in the 2025-26 school year, reported on the 40th instructional day. According to DPI, most of these vacant roles were filled by educators with temporary licenses or by rehired retirees.
The WGU release says that “many school employees want to teach, but leaving a paycheck to finish a degree and student teach puts that goal out of reach.”
The report from DPI found that Hertford County Public Schools had one of the highest teacher vacancy rates in the state (28.57% in the 2025-26 school year). Dr. Jesse Pratt, superintendent of Hertford County Public Schools, said in the release that the “best candidates” to fill those positions are already employed in the district.
“We start every year with at least eight classrooms we can’t fully staff, and some of our best candidates are the teacher assistants already working down the hall,” said Pratt. “This apprenticeship lets us invest in people who already know our students and plan to stay in our community.”
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‘A statewide framework for developing future teachers already working in our schools’
Apprenticeships, as a workforce training model, have been on the rise in North Carolina. According to previous reporting by EdNC, registered apprenticeships are often heralded as the gold standard in work-based learning, combining paid, on-the-job training with in-class instruction, culminating in an industry-recognized credential.
ApprenticeshipNC, which the new initiative is run through, is the state apprenticeship agency designated by the U.S. Department of Labor to register and oversee apprenticeship programs.
For this initiative, people who are already employed by a participating school district will become teaching apprentices while “working alongside mentor teachers and completing the final 60 credits of a WGU bachelor’s degree in elementary or special education,” according to the release.
Apprentices will also complete a “North Carolina teaching license and a Registered Apprenticeship credential,” while they still earn a paycheck, staying employed at their district.
Dr. Mallory Dwinal-Palisch, president of Craft Education at WGU, said apprenticeships should be more common in training teachers, highlighting how her organization can take some of the load off of school districts through the initiative.
“Apprenticeship works in health care and the skilled trades because people learn on the job, with a mentor and a clear path to a credential. Teaching should work the same way,” said Dwinal-Palisch in the release. “We handle the hours tracking, funding, and federal reporting behind the scenes, so districts can focus on developing great teachers and keep the program going after the grant ends.”
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The new initiative is an extension of the work TIP has already started in developing teacher apprenticeships. Over the summer, TIP launched its first cohort of eight districts partnering with ApprenticeshipNC to bring K-12 teacher apprenticeships to their communities.
Dr. Sharon Contreras, CEO of TIP, said working to better the teacher pipeline is the responsibility of the entire state.
“Our districts know they cannot solve teacher shortages through recruitment alone,” said Contreras. “We must create a statewide framework for developing future teachers already working in our schools. By working together, we can expand access to the profession while building stronger local educator pipelines.”