A Denver school district is trying to get ahead of teacher burnout this year

DENVER — Most Colorado kids have been back in school for a few weeks now. While students and teachers are getting into a groove, districts across the state are still trying to figure out how to fill some gaps when it comes to teacher shortages.

“Historically, I think we really struggle in our rural districts, particularly our remote rural districts,” said Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Commissioner Susan Cordova.

The most recent data from the Colorado Department of Education during the 2023-2024 school year shows 1,436 positions across the state were left unfilled.

Mapleton Public Schools is trying something new this school year with the hope of preventing teacher burnout and providing more support.

Dani Cerna teaches sixth grade math and science at Trailside Academy, which is part of Mapleton Public Schools. She’s been a teacher for a total of seven years, four spent at Mapleton.

“It’s so rewarding. It brings so much joy to my life,” said Cerna.

A rewarding job that comes with a lot of extra work outside school hours like lesson planning, grading papers and more in a profession with historically low pay.

“When we’re working more than 40 hours a week and not being compensated for it, nobody wants to do that,” said Cerna. “I mean, teacher burnout is huge.”

In order to combat burnout and provide more support and collaboration, Mapleton Public schools is trying something new this school year.

“Especially right after COVID, we were noticing a lot of teachers resigning, leaving the field of education,” said Mapleton Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Erica Branscum.

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The district launched what’s called Mapleton Educator Empowerment Teams, or MEET, after teaming up with Arizona State University’s Next Education Workforce. Branscum said the district is the first in the Denver metro to do this.

“It allows for a group of teachers to be able to support a group of kids, and that you don’t have to be the expert in all different contents so that you can really learn from your colleagues, get support from your colleagues,” said Branscum.

Mapleton is also partnering with the nonprofit Public Education Business Coalition to provide eight new teacher residents to serve on the district’s MEET teams. The program guarantees these residents a job at the district for at least three years with the hope of them staying longer. Cerna is one of the teachers at Trailside Academy using the new model, teaming up with another math teacher and two teachers who teach English Language Arts to support both fifth and six grade.

“I think the biggest impact it’s had so far is we do have the resident teacher with us, so now instead of having four adults to support our students, we have five,” said Cerna.

Branscum said three of Mapleton’s other schools are also using the MEET model and her goal is to implement this at every school in the district.

While it’s only been a few weeks since the new team-teaching model launched, Cerna said she’s already seeing the benefits.

“I’ve already seen it working and I’m really excited to have the kids have the opportunity to work with other adults,” said Cerna. “The flexibility it allows really allows us to feel more efficacious, feel more successful and take more off of our plates.”

Data from the Colorado Department of Education from last school year shows Mapleton Public Schools had four unfilled positions.

If you’re interested in becoming a teacher, Cordova said it’s never too late. She added the state has partnered with TEACH Colorado to help.

“If you don't have a Bachelor's degree, we have a pathway for you to get your Bachelor's and to get a license. If you're a career changer, we have a pathway in if you want to do an online program, if you want to do an in-person program, if you want to do a residency-based program,” said Cordova.

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