NEA Aspiring Educators (AE) across the country have made significant gains in securing pay for student teachers. However, the fight is far from over. Unpaid student teaching remains a major barrier to entering the profession, disproportionately impacting those from low-income backgrounds and exacerbating the teacher shortage crisis. Without compensation, many future teachers are forced to accumulate more debt or abandon their dreams of becoming a teacher.
This is why union advocacy and legislative action are essential in making paid student teaching a reality nationwide. Your AE campus chapter can play a pivotal role in this movement by working in collaboration with your NEA-affiliated association to push for policies that fund and support paid student teaching.
The Utah Education Association (UEA), for example, championed a pilot program to provide stipends for student teachers. Working closely with the state legislature, UEA secured funding through a bill that grants a stipend of up to $6,000 to college students who are completing their student teaching in Utah public schools. Signed into law in March 2024, the measure aims to stem the tide of new teachers in the state who are leaving the profession—currently at the alarming rate of 42 percent within the first five years. By easing the financial burden on student teachers, the law helps support future educators as they balance their training with personal expenses.
Momentum for paid student teaching is growing. In 2024, the Minnesota state legislature approved a $2.5 million grant program to provide stipends for student teachers. Similarly, California has expanded its investment in teacher residency programs. Over the past five years, state lawmakers have invested nearly $700 million dollars to support residency programs. The most outstanding transformation, though, may be in New Mexico where every program can participate in a full year clinical practice before becoming the teacher of record—a key element for early career success. This is possible because they receive a $35,000 stipend, often supplemented by their hosting school district to match a first-year teacher's salary.
“Securing pay for student teachers is a crucial step toward making the teaching profession more accessible, equitable, and sustainable for future educators,” says NEA senior policy analyst Blake West.
West adds, "Student teachers need a full year of paid clinical practice if we want them to succeed beyond three years in the profession."
Through advocacy, union collaboration, and legislative action, AE campus chapters can be a driving force in achieving this goal. Want to know how your AE chapter can speak out for paid student teaching? West offers these action steps to launch your campaign and keep the momentum going:
Gather personal testimonies
Collect testimonies from student teachers to show how unpaid student teaching affects their financial and emotional well-being. Highlight their personal struggles and sacrifices to build empathy and urgency for legislative change. Follow these tips to begin gathering stories:
Use state and national data to support your efforts
Make the case for compensation by underscoring how teacher residency programs—which often include paid student teaching—are linked to higher retention rates, with 82 percent of residency graduates remaining in the profession after five years compared with 50 percent from traditional preparation programs, according to the Learning Policy Institute. Use statistics to support key points like these:
- Increase access to teacher preparation by implementing paid student teaching. While students of color make up about 55 percent of the public school population, only 22 percent of teachers are People of Color, according to The New Teacher Project. This disparity highlights the need for initiatives that attract and support diverse candidates, creating a workforce that better reflects student demographics. Data from the National Center for Teacher Residencies shows how teacher residency programs increase student teacher diversity above 50 percent and doubles retention in the profession beyond three years.
- Remove financial barriers that disproportionately affect future teachers from low-income backgrounds. A 2019 report by the Center for American Progress found that 91 percent of Black students and 82 percent of Hispanic students in teacher preparation programs borrowed federal student loans for their undergraduate degrees, compared with 76 percent of White students. Providing financial support ensures that all Aspiring Educators have an equal opportunity to enter the profession, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
- Highlight examples from other states where paid student teaching addresses teacher shortages, like the Maryland and New Mexico laws mentioned above. Teacher residency programs and other models of paid student teaching have also been successful in places like Michigan and Colorado.
Recruit more people to advocate with you
Paid student teaching can become a reality when AE chapter leaders team up with NEA state affiliates, educators, parents, and community members to advocate together. The more partners you have in supporting the cause, the greater the pressure on legislators to act. Take these steps to get started:
Mobilize public support through social media
Putting public pressure on legislators is a critical part of making legislative change. By organizing social media and email campaigns as well as community events, you can help create widespread awareness and demand for action. Here’s how:
- Use platforms like Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, and others to spread the message about the need for paid student teaching. Encourage students, educators, and allies to share their stories and use hashtags like #PaidStudentTeaching to generate conversation.
- Set up email campaigns that automatically send letters to legislators when constituents sign up. Tools like Action Network can be used to facilitate these efforts.
- Host events that bring together allies and offer a chance to share information and energize the movement. These can be informal gatherings like coffee chats or more structured events, such as town halls or webinars.
Engage with state legislators
Influence state lawmakers to introduce and pass legislation that secures paid student teaching. Legislators are often unaware of the challenges that student teachers face, and it’s up to advocates (like you!) to educate them on the issue and rally support for change. Follow this roadmap:
Be persistent and patient
Play the long game, as change rarely happens overnight. Keep building your coalition, gathering more testimonies, and pushing for more legislators to get involved. Even if initial efforts don’t result in immediate success, each step forward brings you closer to the goal.
"For a program to be sustainable, realize it also needs to evolve to a full year of clinical practice so that new teachers are successful at a far higher rate," says West. "The decrease in turnover (churn) can make pay for student teaching far more affordable."
If your campus chapter does secure a bill, keep up the momentum by tracking its progress, staying in touch with key lawmakers, and working with your state affiliate to ensure that the issue remains a priority on the legislative agenda. If the bill is stalled or delayed, keep building support and advocating for continued action.
For guidance and support, contact NEA senior policy analyst Blake West, [email protected], and NEA Aspiring Educators Chair Hannah StClair, [email protected].
