The demand for special education teachers is growing, and Lucas Holbert (Class of '21) is on the fast track to meeting that need.
Holbert recently joined Whittier College’s new Pathway Integrating Child Development and Education Specialist (PICES) program, which allows child development majors to graduate with both their bachelor’s and their K-12 special education teaching credential in four years.
The program will help meet the rising need for special-ed teachers. Almost 10 percent of California’s 6.2 million public school students are in special education, and the system is in “deep trouble”—in part due to an extreme shortage of fully prepared teachers, Michael Kirst, president of the California State Board of Education, told EdSource last fall. Cean Colcord, Whittier College assistant professor of education and child development and director of PICES, is getting calls and emails from special education directors asking when his students are graduating, because there are jobs for them the moment they walk off the commencement stage.
“I’m excited about the PICES program and I look forward to getting our students out there,” Colcord said. The teaching program is coordinating with local schools and school districts to place the program’s students in classrooms, where they can gain field experience in different types of special education settings.
Holbert cannot wait to get started, and his desire to give back stems from personal experience.
In third grade, he was struggling; his learning style wasn’t the same as most of his peers. But he had a compassionate teacher, Miss Thompson, who saw his need and led him to a learning center at his school that worked with him to find his unique way of learning. He began to excel—and now, he’s on his way to become a highly trained educator who can start giving back in the same way Miss Thompson helped him.
“I felt that that was a place for me because I just really want to be out there and teach as soon as I can,” Holbert said. “You get something and you want to give back to those especially who have helped you out, but then also the people like you… They were once in my shoes and I can be that type of person, like my teacher was for me, and be the one who inspires them.”
In Colcord’s introduction to teaching course, Holbert learned not only about effective ways to teach, but also about the need for compassionate teachers. It was in that class that Colcord recognized Holbert’s potential for the program, and accepted his application soon after.
“Lucas is one of those types of people that’s going to make a fantastic special-ed teacher,” Colcord said. “We have an incredible group of students who are very, very dedicated to improving outcomes for students with a variety of different disabilities in public classrooms in and around Whittier.”
Request more information about the PICES pathway.
