Students walk to their first class during the first day of school at Saginaw High School on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022 in Saginaw. (Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com)Kaytie Boomer | MLive.com
SAGINAW, MI—What is “TEALS” and why should Saginaw students be educated through it?
TEALS, or “Technology Education and Learning Support,” is a philanthropic program run by Microsoft to help provide schools with a Computer Science curriculum, better preparing students for the modern workforce.
Ivan Phillips, a student with Saginaw High School and member of the Dow Treasure Academy, said he first learned of the TEALS program through a to Microsoft’s Detroit headquarters.
There, Phillips learned how TEALS affects the districts it has been applied to and how it is reflective of their communities. That raised a question he brought up to regional managers at Microsoft: Why isn’t something like this in Saginaw?
In a presentation before the Saginaw school board at their Wednesday, Feb. 15, meeting, Phillips was joined by TEALS Regional Manager Chuck Morgan who shared that 46% of Michigan schools have dedicated computer science courses.
He also said that, currently, there are roughly more than 21,000 jobs up for grabs each averaging salaries of more than $82,000 per year- all remaining unfilled or resulting in understaffing issues due to annual graduation numbers only producing a tenth of what’s needed in that field.
If the district were to partner with TEALS, Morgan said the program will help connect the district with educators and resources needed to better teach students in computer science (C.S.) without them worrying about the major financial investment normally attributed to it.
“It’s a philanthropies program. You’ll never write a check to Microsoft TEALS,” said Morgan. “All of this is part the mission of Microsoft to be able to spread C.S., and to put C.S. in places where typically it has not been.”
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Morgan said the TEALS program can connect educators with community-trained volunteers, a selection of rigorous computer science curriculums and help build learning pathways to develop and train educators on the subject.
Some of those pathways include connecting the district with volunteers who will work alongside teachers in the classroom to instruct.
Examples Morgan cited included officials that Dow Treasure Academy Director Kareem Bowen may already work alongside as well as individuals from other local entities that have been known to need graduates with C.S. skills.
While no vote was held Wednesday to immediately implement the TEALS program in Saginaw schools, several board members and officials voiced their support to bring the needed educational field to the area.
Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy Principal Rachel Reid said that SASA does already have an Advanced Placement (A.P.) C.S. course, but the partnership could allow for a wider range of students to access the rapidly growing field.
“SASA currently has an A.P CS course. We know our students can’t get there until grades 11 and 12,” said Reid. “This would allow our younger students to get that or to go to the career complex to get it earlier.”
The board’s newest trustee, Kevin Rooker, said the kids in the district need to be able to keep up with modern career needs, especially as the district moves toward unifying Saginaw High and Arthur Hill.
“The company wasn’t even considering northern Michigan, let alone Saginaw. When our students went on that field trip and asked tough questions of the Microsoft field managers, they were intrigued by the push for the opportunity to have it offered in Saginaw,” said Rooker. “I was a computer science teacher at Carrollton High teaching in the Computer Science Tech Lab, which was state of the art from 1999 to 2004. An update like this, our Saginaw students need this and should have unfettered opportunity to be exposed to and engage in this program.”
Morgan said each school in the district has filled out applications to join the program preemptively, in the event that the board does approve a more widespread approval of the partnership with TEALS.
For more information on the Microsoft TEALS program, visit the TEALS page on Microsoft’s website or check out the Microsoft TEALS twitter page.
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