Metro, Peabody Aim To Attract Math, Science Educators With Free Degree

Students at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education could receive their master’s degree for free if they commit to teaching in a Metro classroom once they graduate. The program aims to attract middle-school teachers for science, math and reading – areas Metro often struggles to fill.

A master’s degree at Peabody normally costs some $32 thousand. But under the agreement the college is waiving a third of that amount for Metro.

Camilla Benbow is the dean of Peabody’s education program. She says it’s hard to recruit science and math majors to teach.

“Competition for those graduates is very high. And if you’re going to be a math teacher you have to have a math major, or a science teacher, you have to be a science major. And those people have a lot of opportunities for higher-paying jobs.”

Benbow says the school recommends about 150 students for teacher certification each year, with about half going on to teach in Middle Tennessee.

The program with Metro will start its first 24 students this summer, at a group rate of about $350 thousand.

Schools Superintendent Jesse Register expects private money to cover the program, but says details are still in the works. If there’s a shortfall, Register says federal money can pick up any slack.

“I guess one approach would have been to wait on the funding but that would have probably put us another year later starting, and so we already have a good start on the first year and we’ll be developing that over the next couple of months.”

Applicants must qualify both to study at Peabody and to work in Metro. In total they’ll commit for five years – two to work on their master’s degree, and three more in a Metro middle school.

If they leave early they’ll have to pay for the degree, but Register says he hopes those teachers quote “find a good home,” and stay beyond the three-year contract.

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