UW–Madison’s School of Education will use $2.4 million in federal funds over five years to help launch a new registered apprenticeship program to prepare special education teachers in Wisconsin and advance innovative supports for special educator retention. The initiative aims to recruit, prepare, support and retain 100 new master’s-level special educators on an “earn-while-you-learn” basis to combat severe staffing shortages.

Currently, only 43% of special education teachers in Wisconsin public schools remain in the profession by their eighth year, according to university researchers and the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI). A growing number of special educators also hold emergency licenses — at nearly 10% in 2024, according to Wisconsin Policy Forum — with hundreds of open positions across the state in districts large and small, prompting DPI to identify special education as the state’s most critical staffing shortage area.

At the same time, the need for innovative support for students who have disabilities is growing.

“Wisconsin, like many states in the nation, is experiencing an increase in the number of students with disabilities in schools and in the severity of needs that the students are bringing,” said Barbara Van Haren, a DPI consultant and former director of special education who focuses on retention challenges. “But we are seeing fewer teachers going into special education and, most importantly, fewer are staying in special education.”

This project aims to address the staffing shortage with a new registered apprenticeship model that will begin in summer 2027 and will be officially registered with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD). The $2.4 million for the programmatic work at UW–Madison is a subcontract from a $10.5 million State Personnel Development Grant to DPI from the U.S. Department of Education to address special education workforce challenges.

The apprenticeship program will offer participants an accelerated master’s degree in special education and a cross-categorical (K–12) special education teacher’s license upon completion. Totaling 14 months, the UW–Madison Special Education-Teacher Apprenticeship Program, or SE-TAP, will feature a nine-month teaching apprenticeship, covering a full academic year under the supervision of an experienced mentor, plus two summers of online classes, held before and after the teaching apprenticeship. Participants will have paid release time one day per week to take classes at UW–Madison, requiring the apprenticeship school to be within driving distance of campus.

The school district employer will employ and pay apprentices during the nine-month, full-time apprenticeship. As UW–Madison graduate students, apprentices will be eligible to apply for the School of Education’s Wisconsin Teacher Pledge, which pays the cost of in-state tuition and fees in exchange for teacher candidates working at a Wisconsin PK–12 school for three to four school years after graduation.

By combining UW–Madison’s master’s degree curriculum with extended learning experience in a school setting, the program will quickly prepare and place highly qualified special educators in school districts. Earning a master’s degree and teacher certification at UW–Madison often takes two full years; SE-TAP apprentices will be fully prepared in 14 months with nine months of supervised on-site experience in the sponsoring school district.

“School districts are excited about the program,” said Kimber Wilkerson, a professor of special education, department chair, and project leader at UW–Madison. “They see hiring and retaining special educators as a priority area. Every time we talk to school districts, special education teachers are their No. 1 human resources priority.”

To scale the program statewide, program leaders envision UW–Madison working with DPI to collaborate with other Universities of Wisconsin campuses for development of similar educational pathways in other parts of the state.

Grow Your Own While Earning for Learning

Designed to help school districts address the staffing shortage in a sustainable and locally situated way, this initiative will prioritize recruiting apprentices who are already connected to a specific school district. They could be career changers, parents, or paraprofessionals who work and live in the community and may already have experience with students at the apprenticeship school.

“I hear many times from districts, ‘We have great paraprofessionals supporting students who would love to become special education teachers, but they can’t quit their jobs,’” said Van Haren. “They can’t afford to go back to school to do it, or they hold the insurance benefits for the family through their job. Too many times, it’s too much of a financial burden on the individuals.”

Kanin Price is an Army veteran with a bachelor’s degree in sports management and has 20 years of experience in the beauty industry. He just finished his first summer-school term in a similar UW–Madison program that prepares special education teachers to teach in Milwaukee Public Schools. Price is now working with a mentor teacher at Siefert Elementary School in Milwaukee Public Schools, serving students in grades 4–6.

As a 54-year-old career changer, Price said the program’s realistic pathway into education was the most important factor for him.

“I am not sure I could have financially made this transition through a traditional graduate program while balancing graduate school, work, and living expenses,” said Price. “The program combines graduate education, paid classroom experience, mentorship, and financial support through the Teacher Pledge in a way that allowed me to focus on becoming an educator.”

Applications Due This Winter

Applications for the program’s first of four 25-participant cohorts will open later in 2026. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree and meet other criteria to be considered; a GRE score is not required.

“We look forward to collaborating with school districts to recruit and prepare highly qualified special educators who are well positioned to serve their communities,” said Rebekka Olsen, a project co-leader with Dr. Wilkerson at UW–Madison. “The commitment on the part of district employers is that it takes one school year to get an apprentice trained and certified as a special educator in their community.”

The $2.4 million subcontract also calls for Wilkerson’s team to develop online modules for statewide use to support early-career special educators with professional development in state induction programs. The modules, begun under a federal grant canceled last year, aim to address workforce shortages by helping retain more teachers through building their skills. The modules will focus on proven practices around instruction, assessment and behavioral interventions for students with disabilities.

“Special education teachers leave the profession faster than other kinds of teachers,” Wilkerson said. “Providing the modules is another way we can impact a lot of teachers.”

The rest of DPI’s $10.5 million grant is slated to pay for items including stipends to help school districts offset the costs associated with participating in the apprenticeship program, outreach to scale up the apprenticeship program and induction programs statewide, and a subcontract to the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative in the School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research for full grant-program evaluation.

Interested school districts can contact Rebekka Olsen for more information about joining the apprenticeship program.