Some high school students in Northern Kentucky are learning while teaching.

Their districts are participating in a program launched in January called Grow Your Own Teacher.

This Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship, a program is putting high school students on an early path to becoming a teacher.

More about this in today's Education Matters, we see how the program could help with a state's teacher shortage.

It is a teacher apprenticeship program, for students in high school grades nine through 12.

Students can enter as a ninth grader, 10th grader, 11th grader, 12th grader.

We have multiple entry points.

And then, depending on when they enter the program, will determine how many years of post-secondary they need to do.

The unique thing about this one is it's students in high school getting to experience, what it's like to be a teacher.

And with any of those, career pathways that a high school offers, it's just as important for students to find out what they don't want to do as what they do want to do.

And, it's going to save them a lot of time and money and really ensure that this is something that they want to do and be be committed to.

And I think it gives a great pre-service opportunity to see if this is the career path for them.

So we have a partnership with GTC so that the students in the teaching and learning pathway can take dual credit courses while they're in high school.

And then depending on the number they accumulate, they will go to U of L post-secondary and anywhere from two to 3 to 4 years, become a certified teacher.

All while doing that, they are working with a mentor teacher in their home district, and they are going to be paid their senior year in high school.

And then the years that they're at U of L as an apprentice, so that they are working back in their district, learning in the classroom that they may future teach in, best kind of on the job training and really hoping that, by having this experience, we're going to instill that that joy and love for teaching.

And help prepare them to be job ready when they graduate.

As we were designing and as pilot was, the pilot was happening in Bullitt County.

I think that was kind of a happy surprise that it's also supporting those teachers who are serving as the mentors.

The average turnover rate among our 14 districts is about 20 to 25% a year.

Now, not all of those teachers are leaving the profession.

Some are going on to become principals or moving schools.

But still, when you have that much turnover, you have vacancies that need to be filled.

That coupled with you have fewer going into undergraduate programs in education, choosing other professions, beyond education.

And so we're really working with our districts to try to help them find teachers who recruit new people to the profession.

We are in the recruiting phase right now, and we are in conversations and planning meetings, with four of our 14 districts at this point, and hopefully we will bring on many more and we'll be very excited to announce when we make some, finalized plans, with some of our member districts to get this rolling.

Hopefully this fall.

The Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative covers 14 school districts, including Jefferson County.