The Public Education Foundation (PEF) is proud to announce that its administrative staff have finalized their move onto the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) campus. As a result of the sale of PEF’s building at 4350 S. Maryland Parkway to UNLV, staff have relocated to the Campus Services Building and joined the UNLV campus community. The PEF Teacher Superstore maintains its store location at 6001 S. Decatur Boulevard, Suite D.
“We are only able to achieve our mission of meeting the immediate, critical needs of our public schools by collaborating with a wide variety of stakeholders, especially our higher education institutions,” said Rich Broome, CEO of the Public Education Foundation. “We are proud to partner with UNLV’s educators and community leaders to help ensure our students can be successful throughout their lives.”
The relocation of PEF staff emphasizes the impact of close partnerships between the community and the higher education system, in collaboration with the Clark County School District (CCSD), to address important public education issues. Together, PEF and UNLV are building on a growing coalition of programs working to address Clark County’s teacher shortage by providing new paths into teaching careers.
In March of 2022, UNLV and PEF announced a new partnership to support current CCSD paraprofessionals as they prepare for the UNLV Paraprofessional Pathways Project (PPP). Through PEF’s Teacher Pathway program, paraprofessionals are connected with experienced mentor teachers to help them overcome common barriers to becoming full-time teachers and apply for and enroll in the UNLV PPP program.
For the 2022-2023 school year, PEF has recruited 92 paraprofessionals and guest teachers to participate in Teacher Pathway, 76% of whom identify as coming from diverse backgrounds. Working with their mentors, participants are completing individualized plans to finish their associate degrees and meet credit requirements, pass the general knowledge Praxis exam required for all Nevada teaching candidates, and apply for financial aid.
In addition, PEF is partnering with the UNLV College of Education to provide teaching candidates with mentorship in the first three years of their teaching careers, including support with curriculum development, student and family engagement skills, and stress management. The two entities are also collaborating on summer programs for CCSD high school students interested in becoming teachers.
With PEF administrative staff now located on the UNLV campus, key stakeholders from Teacher Pathway and PPP are able to work more closely to strengthen the pipeline of qualified teachers entering our local classrooms and build on community efforts to address the teacher shortage crisis.
To learn more about the Public Education Foundation and support our work on behalf of our public school students, families, and teachers, please visit thepef.org.
