As the teacher shortage in West Virginia reaches record highs, State Superintendent Clayton Burch was in the Northern Panhandle on Thursday to discuss the future of teaching future teachers in the state.

Burch visited schools in Ohio, Marshall, and Tyler counties to speak on ‘Grow Your Own Pathway,’ a program designed to provide innovative, low-cost pathways into the teaching profession.

“Trying to create a new program where high school students can actually get a jumpstart if they actually decide they want to be a teacher, and we want to help them," Burch said.

The program will allow high school students to take college-level classes, entering college with 22 credit hours completed, ultimately paying for that first year of college while they are in high school.

"We have students who can begin that career pathway earlier, and if you're a parent, of course, it reduces time and cost because we are going to pay for that first year, and then we are one of the few states that will offer a full year-long residency," Burch said.

The need for this comes as the state is seeing 1,200 teacher vacancies just this year, and it is projected to double in the next few years.

John Marshall High School has had a smiler program called Careers and Ed Pathways. Now it is transitioning over to grow your own.

"We have been prepping students since 2019 for the educational. However, the opportunities the students are going to have to get paid and be on an apprenticeship is really exciting," Wilson said.

And they already have a full class with 20 sophomores signed up for the program.

"I hope that they find something that they love doing that they enjoy doing and can make a great living and stay in the community," Wilson said.

The program will begin at John Marshall High School and the other 17 schools in the state this coming fall.