MIAMI — As South Florida school districts continue hiring ahead of the new school year, education leaders say programs designed to bring career changers into classrooms are helping address a teacher shortage that has persisted for years.
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Alexis Robinson is among 200 new teachers recognized during a pinning ceremony at Miami Senior High School after completing the Teacher Accelerator Program, an education nonprofit that helps streamline the pathway to teaching in public, charter and private schools.
Robinson, who is interviewing for teaching positions, is among many participants entering education after working in another field.
“Not sure on the school yet but we are in the interview process,” Robinson said.
Before pursuing teaching, Robinson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theater and toured with theater companies.
She said becoming certified to teach outside private school programs proved difficult before learning about the Teacher Accelerator Program.
“And then I was like well, if I want to teach outside of a private school program, for charter or public, I need to get certified, and that process has been very hard,” Robinson said. “(It) started last year, and then my mom heard about this program.”
Although she hopes to eventually teach drama, Robinson said English became the natural fit.
“So the closest thing to theater that I love is English, and that’s how I landed here and I am just passionate,” she said.
Leslie Miller Saiontz, president and founder of the Teacher Accelerator Program, said career changers bring enthusiasm and experience into the profession at a time when schools continue to face staffing challenges.
“They come in with gusto and that’s what you need, you need intention, and gosh they just check all the boxes,” Saiontz said.
The program has expanded into Broward County as districts continue searching for qualified educators.
“The teacher shortage is the biggest challenge to education right now,” she said.
The effort comes as Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce projects the United States will face skills shortages in several critical occupations, including teaching, through at least 2032.
United Way Miami President and CEO Symeria Hudson said the Teacher Accelerator Program is part of the organization’s Upskill initiative, which focuses on developing workers in industries experiencing talent shortages.
“So we have identified specific industries that have talent gaps. Things like the education profession,” she said. “So what we’ve been able to do is identify these opportunities where we believe that the talent can be actually birth and created right here in our very own community. So we help invest in educational programs with public private partnerships and educational institutions.”
She said the program helps shorten the path from career changer to classroom teacher.
“The teacher accelerator program fits under an umbrella of what we call the United Way Miami Upskill program, and that program was designed to really leverage talent right here in our own community, but talent that needed to be up-skilled,” Hudson said. “So part of what teacher accelerator program does is certainly shorten that time, allowing teacher focusing on coursework that is going to get them right there in the classroom.”
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The Florida Department of Education has identified exceptional student education, English for Speakers of Other Languages, math, science and English among its high-demand teacher certification areas for the 2026-27 school year.
Robinson said she and many of the other career changers in the program were inspired by teachers who changed their lives.
“I thought about it and I was like, I will take the chance. we (other career changers her in cohort TAP program) recalled a teacher that changed things for us and so when we thought about the teacher shortage going on, everyone who I have seen (in the TAP program) who has not come from an education background, or maybe has come from substituting and was like i want to get into this full-time, came from heeding that call,” Robinson said.
The challenge of recruiting teachers is not new.
In 2022, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jose Dotres said the district’s greatest staffing needs included high-level math, science, special education and high school language arts.
“To the point that we are recruiting outside the typical college of education but actually going to other disciplines because we know we have very talented individuals that are very strong with their content and if they have a passion to work with students they can be exceptional teachers,” he said.
Hiring remains underway across South Florida.
Broward County Public Schools spokesperson John Sullivan told Local 10 News the district currently has approximately 300 instructional vacancies, representing an instructional vacancy rate of about 2%.
“This is slightly lower than where the District typically is at this point in the hiring cycle,” Sullivan said. He added that the district is actively recruiting qualified educators and expects schools to be appropriately staffed when the school year begins.
Sullivan also said Broward County Public Schools does not have a hiring freeze for teachers or other school-site positions tied to enrollment.
In Miami-Dade County, the Florida Education Association’s January county-by-county teacher vacancy snapshot identified vacancies across 34 certification categories but did not include a total vacancy number.
In a statement Friday, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesperson said, “A snapshot number at this stage does not reflect our actual staffing reality,” adding, “We are successfully moving available educators into open roles and are committed to ensuring every classroom has a high-quality educator on day one.”
Related Links
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce Falling Behind: How Skills Shortages Threaten Future Jobs
Florida Department of Education Identification of
The Florida Department of Education identifies the following as high-demand teacher certification areas for the 2026-27 school year:
- Exceptional Student Education (ESE)
- Math
- English
- Science – General
- Science – Physical
- Science – Earth & Space
- English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
“The high-demand areas above represent certification areas where larger than typical proportions of teachers who are not certified in the appropriate field are being hired to teach courses where significant vacancies exist and where postsecondary institutions do not produce enough graduates to meet the needs of Florida’s K-12 student population,” according to the FDOE.
Florida Education Association Teacher and staff shortage
The Florida Education Association stated that “Florida faces a severe shortage of teachers and education support staff professionals.”
According to an FEA spokesperson, the organization counts advertised vacancies posted on each school district’s website every August, with a follow-up update in January.
Florida’s Teacher and staff vacancies signal a retention crisis at a breaking point
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