The University of Wisconsin’s Teacher Pledge

• In Event: Mitigating Financial Barriers for Teaching Candidates: Federal, State, and Local Approaches to Service Scholarships

Abstract

To recruit and retain teachers in the state of Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education launched the Teacher Pledge in 2020. The Teacher Pledge is a service scholarship program providing forgivable loans to teacher education students. Participants are eligible regardless of financial need, and students can receive up to the cost of in-state tuition plus licensure testing and application fees. After graduating, participants who teach full-time in any Wisconsin PK-12 school for four years have their loan forgiven. Teaching in “high need” schools or subject areas reduces the repayment horizon to three years. The program is available to both undergraduate and graduate students and 65% of eligible teacher education students have participated (n=1,003) and the average loan amount is approximately $18,000.

This study is part of a longitudinal multi-method evaluation of the Teacher Pledge designed to: (1) document its implementation process (process evaluation); (2) inform improvements to its design, communications, and operations (formative evaluation); and (3) determine its effectiveness in reaching its desired outcomes (summative evaluation). Through student surveys (n=728), alumni surveys (n=602), interviews with students and program staff (n=229), we have developed a rich evidence base for understand the program’s implementation and participants’ experience and motivations for participating (or not). We also have detailed administrative data on teacher education students’ academic outcomes, financial aid packages, and teaching placement after graduation that allow us to compare Teacher Pledge participants to non-participants over time.

Initial findings from the formative and process evaluations focus on administrative burdens (Herd & Moynihan, 2018) associated with the Teacher Pledge. In contrast to other service-contingent loan programs, which include burdensome paperwork requirements and limited student support (Jacob et al., 2024), the Teacher Pledge has effectively limited learning and compliance costs (e.g., proactive communication, minimal paperwork) to increase program participation and reduce barriers to loan forgiveness. Students and alumni express high satisfaction with the program’s design and implementation, particularly around the level of support provided. Our findings also focus on why students participate (or not) in the Teacher Pledge. Additionally, we are finding statistical evidence that the Teacher Pledge may be helping to boost enrollment, particularly at the graduate level, while having no detectable effects on the racial/ethnic composition of teacher education students.

Authors

• Nicholas Hillman, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Kathryn Boonstra, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Jared D. Colston, University of Wisconsin - Madison