As an incoming freshman, Matthew Morris ’25 knew he wanted to study microbiology but wasn’t as clear about his career path. As he progressed through his coursework at Texas A&M University’s College of Arts & Sciences, he came across the aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences Program.
That discovery helped him remember how influential his high school science teachers had been in helping him pursue his passion for science. “I had a great high school physics teacher who put in perspective how beneficial and impactful the high school experience can be and how it can set students up for the future,” said Morris, who grew up near Hallsville, Texas. “I saw how dynamic the teaching job really is and realized that’s what I wanted to do—and now aggieTEACH is paving the way for me to become a high school science teacher.”
Morris has completed four of six education classes: Understanding Special Populations, Foundations of Education in a Multicultural Society, Reading in Middle and Secondary Grades, and Teaching and Schooling in Modern Society. Ahead of him are classes in teaching skills and science in middle and secondary school courses, and a clinical teaching assignment during his final semester.
"Once I complete my degrees in microbiology, I can see myself going to teach near home or somewhere new and exciting,” he said, “or I might even stay in College Station to teach. Through teaching science, I will have the chance to dispel the notion that science is a rigid, unchanging repository of knowledge. Science is dynamic and is being developed and discovered every day. Ideally, I want to convey this concept as I teach to instill open mindedness and wonder in my classrooms. Beyond science, I hope my students learn how to approach their future endeavors with a willingness to truly understand.”
Focused on the State’s Needs
Aligned with Texas A&M’s land-grant mission to serve the needs of Texas, aggieTEACH is committed to preparing high school and middle school teachers who will help offset the state’s long-standing K-12 teacher shortage that began in the 1990s. This shortage emerged as the state’s population began growing exponentially just as many of the state’s teachers reached retirement age. A teacher retention issue added another challenge: many new educators leave the profession within the first five years in the classroom.
As a result, Texas’ higher education institutions and alternative certification programs have struggled to keep up with school districts’ continual demand, especially for teachers in key subject areas that will have profound implications for the state’s future. In the 2024-25 school year, critical teacher shortage areas in secondary schools included mathematics, bilingual/English as a Second Language (ESL), English language arts and reading, computer science/technology applications, and career and technical education.
Head of the Class
Fortunately, preparing teachers for many of these subject areas falls under aggieTEACH’s purview. Started in the early 2000s as the innovative Math and Science Scholars (MASS) Program in a partnership between the College of Science and the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), the program was rebranded as aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences after moving into the College of Arts & Sciences after the university’s reorganization in 2021. That move has allowed aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences to expand its efforts to support aspiring teachers who are studying the humanities such as history, English and communication.
Through the programming offered by the CEHD, Texas A&M, gives students two pathways to earn their secondary teacher certification. The first pathway, the aggieTEACH SEED minor, requires undergraduate students to complete 18 credit hours of coursework in an educator preparation sequence and one semester of clinical student teaching in addition to 24 hours of coursework in their major. The second pathway consists of a post-baccalaureate secondary graduate certification program designed for students within two semesters of graduation.
These pathways have proven popular and, as a result, the program not only consistently graduates the most preservice secondary math and science teachers of any Texas higher education institution but also enjoys a 100% employment rate for its graduates. These new Aggie teachers also tend to remain in the classroom past the critical five-year mark, resulting in a programmatic teacher retention rate well above the state average.
Creating New Pathways
aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences attracts both students who always knew they wanted to go into teaching as well as Aggies like Parker Doucette ’25, who found aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences while reorienting his initial career plans. After discovering that he didn’t enjoy the required coursework to earn a degree in engineering, the College Station resident dropped out of school and spent his spare time listening to podcasts focused on world history, foreign culture and geopolitics.
Doucette soon decided that he wanted to study history, and that teaching would allow him to delve into historical complexities with others. “I thought I’d graduate with a history degree, then go and do my alternative certification,” he said. “But my Career Center counselor said, ‘I want you to investigate aggieTEACH because it’s going to be better for you. They're going to support you and provide all these resources and contact with former teachers who can help you learn about this field and the different ins and outs that you wouldn’t learn about otherwise.”
Doucette realized his adviser was right. The aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences program is managed by two former high school teachers, Program Manager Kenric Davies ’10 and Program Coordinator Kolby Richardson, both of whom have a deep understanding of the challenges that teachers face in today’s classrooms. “They check in with everyone every semester and look at our schedules with an eye on what’s going to be on the teacher certification exam,” Doucette said. “If they feel we have gaps in our knowledge base, they will recommend courses to take to prepare for that exam.”
Davies and Richardson also provide a wealth of opportunities for aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences students to expand their instructional understanding. They regularly invite guest speakers to address students, organize seminars, work with area school districts to create job shadowing opportunities, and advise an AggieTEACH student organization that provides a sense of community for students from a variety of majors whose common goal is to become a teacher. Additionally, the program’s aspiring teachers can hone their instructional skills through helping local students through the CEHD’s Aggie Homework Helpline.
Motivated to make a greater impact, Davies and Richardson continue exploring innovative ways to support current and former aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences students. For example, Davies started a podcast, aggieTeach Momentum, that focuses on career development topics applicable to both preservice and early career teachers. “We’re trying to help them think about topics that they may not learn about specifically in their pedagogy classes,” Davies explained.
The depth, breadth and quality of these offerings are preparing Aggies to step into the classroom, get past their own first-year challenges, and remain focused on helping their students succeed.
“I'm making it over that first-year hurdle of being in the classroom,” said Denae Jaksik ’24, an aggieTEACH Arts & Sciences alumni who teaches high school science in Midlothian Independent School District. “I’ve appreciated the support both from the aggieTEACH team and from my district, principal and campus team. Now I'm looking forward to doing this for as many years as I can.”
