TEMPLE, Texas — When school districts across the state of Texas began experiencing teacher shortages and hiring issues, the Temple Independent School District looked inward for a way to grow and develop its own teachers. The result was the Certification Academy for Temple Teachers or CATT Program, which started shortly before the opening of the 2023-2024 school year.
The CATT Program focuses on paraprofessionals already employed by the district who have 60 or more hours of college credit. Those employees are then recommended by principals for participation in the program. After working for Temple ISD for at least a year, undergoing a college credit review, and discussing their goals with TISD’s Human Resources staff, candidates may be approved for the program. Paraprofessionals must then go through the hiring process and apply, interview, and get hired as a non-certified teacher by a district campus. Temple ISD then works with those teachers to take online classes through a partnership with American College of Education (ACE) to complete their degree. Participants are paid an alternative rate that allows the district to help them pay for the cost of completing their degree. That incentive has helped clear the way for some participants who might not have otherwise had the resources to finish the process of becoming certified teachers.
There were six teachers hired in the initial year of the program last year. Two of those six teachers went on to be recognized as their campus’ Rookie Teacher of the Year. The program also sparked interest among other staff members, with eight additional teachers being hired through the CATT Program for the 2024-2025 school year. There are now 14 total teachers participating in the program and the district, the teachers, and their students, are seeing the benefits of the innovative campaign.
“The CATT program has benefited both the district and individual employees over the last two years,” said Dr. Donna Ward, assistant superintendent of Human Resources for Temple ISD. “Because of the implementation of the CATT Program, the district has been able to start the school year fully staffed, which is proving to be challenging in districts across the nation with the shortage of teachers entering and remaining in the profession. While it is still too early to determine if the CATT Program will help improve our teacher retention rate, we are hopeful that our investment in staff members will ultimately lead to higher retention rates. The CATT program benefits our staff members in that it provides an opportunity for paraprofessionals with a proven record of working successfully with students to complete their bachelor’s degree at no cost to the employee. This is a win-win for the district and the employee.”
Kayla Garibay is one of the eight new teachers participating in the CATT program this school year. Garibay spent last year as an aide for Temple ISD before moving into a pre-K teaching role at Meridith-Dunbar Early Childhood Academy. She is also a Temple alum and is grateful for the opportunity to work with her home district to become a certified teacher.
“I took a long break from school and spent some time deciding if this is what I wanted to do, I wanted to kind of speed up the process and heard about the program and thought it was perfect,” Garibay said. “This gave me a chance to jump right in and really start to learn. It has also been really special because I have had a chance to work with some teachers who taught me when I was in school.”
With the CATT Program in place, Temple ISD has started each of the past two school years fully staffed in teacher positions. The success of the program has also attracted attention from outside of the district. Multiple area districts have reached out to Temple to learn more about the program and HR staff has also been asked to present to the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) about the program and its implementation.
“The CATT Program has generated a lot of interest within the community over the last two years,” Ward added. “Community members have heard about the program and have inquired about the process to become a CATT teacher. Districts, both near and far, have asked to meet with our HR Department about how to begin a similar program in their district. We were even approached to present our plan at TASA this year. We are excited to share our journey with anyone who is interested. All districts are feeling the pressures of the teacher shortage, and we are happy to help in any way we can.”
The online schoolwork takes two years to complete, and CATT program participants then spend another year earning their certification through the district’s partnership with I Teach Texas. The teachers also make a commitment to continue teaching in Temple ISD for at least two years after they earn their certification.