Teacher shortages aren’t exactly a new headline—but lately, they’ve started to feel a lot more urgent. In some places, schools have gone years without enough fully trained teachers in the classroom, exposing real flaws in how we prepare and retain educators. Add in the rising cost of becoming a teacher and training models that haven’t kept pace with the realities of the job, and it’s no surprise that many people who want to make an impact aren’t willing to wait years just to feel effective.

Which brings us to a simple but important question: what’s actually going wrong in the teacher pipeline—and how do we fix it in a way that makes sense today?

Welcome to Signals in Higher Ed. In the latest episode, host Darin Francis sits down with Kimberly Eckert from Western Governors University’s Craft Education System, where she focuses on instructional innovation and apprenticeship design. Together, they take a closer look at what’s broken in the teacher pipeline—and what comes next. The conversation spans early exposure to teaching, apprenticeship pathways, and the role of technology and data in building a more responsive, workforce-aligned system.

Top insights from the talk…

Traditional teacher preparation programs often delay real classroom experience until it’s too late—reducing engagement and increasing attrition.
Apprenticeship-based models can dramatically improve access, affordability, and job-readiness by embedding learning directly into paid work.
Technology should act as a connective tissue—linking data, stakeholders, and real-time insights—not just as a compliance tool.

Kimberly Eckert is a nationally recognized education leader with nearly two decades of classroom and leadership experience, currently serving as Head of Instructional Innovation and Apprenticeship Design at Craft Education System at Western Governors University. She has led major teacher preparation and workforce initiatives, including serving as the inaugural Dean of Oxford Teachers College at Reach University and founding Educators Rising Louisiana to expand and diversify the teacher pipeline. A former Louisiana Teacher of the Year, Global Teacher Prize Ambassador, and NEA Social Justice Advocate, her work focuses on apprenticeship-based pathways, educator development, and building more accessible, job-embedded models of teacher training.

Building the Next Generation of Educators Through Apprenticeship Pathways and Workforce-Aligned Training