By Brenda Ortega
MEA Voice Editor

Like its name, the MiCAREER Resource Hub offers simplicity on the surface and complexity underneath.

For current and prospective educators who want to teach or change roles to fill a vacancy in rural schools, it’s simple: The resource hub promises a personalized pathway to no-cost credentialing with individual supports and credits granted for prior related experiences.

Behind the scenes, the project led by Central Michigan University (CMU) is an innovative and ambitious effort to streamline and coordinate credentialing across five major universities to address the needs of rural school districts experiencing educator shortages in Michigan.

The acronym stands for Michigan Consortium for Addressing Rural Education Expansion and Retention. Partnering teacher-prep institutions are Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, and Eastern Michigan University.

“This is a unique collaboration to bring together all of the players involved and think very differently about how to solve this persistent problem of educator shortages in rural communities across our state,” said Dr. Kathryn Dirkin, an MEA member and CMU faculty member who is MiCAREER’s director of Partnerships and Programming.

On the K-12 side, project partners serving in an advisory capacity include at least four northern Michigan intermediate school districts and more than 50 local school districts. Rural school districts comprise 65% of the state’s school districts and serve 31% of Michigan students.

Funded with a four-year $15 million state grant, the MiCAREER Resource Hub is a no-cost credentialing body geared to help three distinct groups of people in Michigan’s rural areas who don’t have easy access to a teacher preparation institution:

• Prospective educators who almost completed a teacher prep program
• Staff on temporary teaching certifications already working in schools
• Veteran teachers who want to add credentials to fill a needed new role

Part of the Mi-CAREER mission is to shorten people’s credentialing pathway while still meeting standards for preparation, Dirkin said. Participants complete a pre-assessment that evaluates school and work experience for credit before an individualized completion plan is developed.

Classes are free for participants and offered online around a schedule that allows project participants to balance existing work and personal obligations, Dirkin said. Participants are assigned a mentor and have a single point of entry for receiving help with issues or questions.

Many districts in rural areas are susceptible to severe teacher shortages due to their smaller size and a limited supply of new teachers and credentialing institutions in their local area, according to the Michigan Teacher Shortage Study: 2025 Report by MSU’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative.

The study found rural districts were more likely to experience high turnover and vacancy rates and often relied heavily on under-credentialed teachers.

“Strategies to combat teacher shortages should target the specific communities and specialization areas that are most in need of teachers,” the report concluded.

CMU projects the Mi-CAREER Resource Hub will support hundreds of educators and thousands of students in its first few years with expectation for continued growth. The project was serving its first cohort not long after receiving the grant from the Michigan Department of Education last year.

“Supporting districts means supporting educators and children,” Dirkin said. “This is mission-driven work that really matters to the future of our state. Now we just need to get the word out that this opportunity is available statewide for prospective educators in our rural regions.”

Learn more about the resource hub at micareer.net.

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