UW-Stout prepares future teachers through personalized approach; Teach Day event for high schoolers is Oct. 15
Menomonie, Wis. – It is no secret that enrollment in teacher preparation programs all over the
country is suffering. The shortages that school districts are feeling in Wisconsin specifically are very
real, and districts large and small are being impacted, said University of Wisconsin-Stout School of
Education Director Shannon Donnelly.
According to a June 2025 analysis by the Learning Policy Institute, more than 410,000 teaching
positions nationwide were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their
assignments, representing about 1 in 8 of all teaching positions.
“This puts a massive strain on school districts when trying to ensure that they are meeting the needs
of all students,” Donnelly said. “Often, these types of positions are filled by professionals without
teaching credentials or will simply remain unfilled. As you can imagine, this greatly impacts the
educational experience for students and significantly strains the system.”
Attracting people to join the education field is admittedly becoming more and more difficult,
especially in high-demand areas such as special education, technology education, and family and
consumer science, and subject areas such as math and science, Donnelly added.
School districts nationwide are looking for solutions to recruit and retain teachers by implementing
innovative, research-backed strategies.
“One of the first things we as current educators can do is to be the biggest champions of the
profession,” she said. “If we aren’t shouting from the rooftops all of the amazing and wonderful
reasons to teach, who will? We desperately need to reframe the profession of teaching back to its
core, which is the gift of impacting students and families.”
Donnelly also thinks that barriers need to be removed for those seeking teaching degrees, through
offering online programs and flexible access, of which she said, “Stout is a leader.”
She thinks the most crucial method to attract people to the profession is through vital community
and state support. “This comes in the form of strong partnerships and advocacy from communities
and a significant financial investment and commitment by the state,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly believes one of the best ways to retain teachers is to create conditions in schools where
teachers feel supported, respected and treated as professionals.
“While the improvement of compensation and benefits will be an ongoing topic of discussion, the
research shows that those components are not the driving force behind why teachers leave the field.
People leave due to feeling overworked, under-supported and under-prepared,” she said.
“We need to ensure teachers are wrapped in a culture where they are viewed as the professional
experts of their field because they are,” Donnelly added.
Preparing future teachers
At UW-Stout, Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, School of Education students are engaged right
from day one in their teaching area of interest: art education; early childhood education; family and
consumer sciences education; marketing and business education; math education; social studies
education; special education; and technology education.
Their progressive development in applied learning moves students through interactive and relevant
activities in their labs and courses to teaching experiences on campus and in school districts before
graduation.
“I am proud of our ongoing work at Stout to ensure that we are utilizing innovative ways to best
prepare our future teachers to excel and succeed in an environment that is ever-changing,” Donnelly
said. “We place a high priority on getting students out into K-12 classrooms immediately. This
unique, personalized approach allows our students to explore a variety of teaching areas and age
levels so they can pursue the education career path most exciting to them.”
Graduates are 100% employed or are continuing their education within six months of graduation and
have an average starting salary of $52,000, according to Career Services’ First Destination Report.
“I continue to be so impressed with the passion and pride that our faculty have for our educator
preparation pathways at Stout. We have a longstanding reputation for providing high-quality
programming and ensuring that our graduates are equipped with the knowledge, skills and
dispositions to successfully enter the education profession,” Donnelly added.
Teach Day shows students a variety of pathways
The School of Education will host its fifth annual Teach Day on Wednesday, Oct. 15, with hands-on
activities for prospective students who are interested in becoming teachers. Students explore any of
the eight pathways in UW-Stout’s undergraduate teacher preparation programs.
In past years, high school students from Minnesota and Wisconsin have attended Teach Day, with
regional students from Menomonie, St. Croix Central, Somerset, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln, Elk
Mound and more.
“We want Teach Day to be an event where students leave with excitement about the variety of
pathways they can pursue to be a teacher while also seeing Stout as a place that they could call
home,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly was previously the superintendent of the Somerset School District, whose students often
participate in Teach Day. The high school offers multiple exploratory courses for students interested
in becoming teachers.
“The Teach Day event was a natural fit,” Donnelly said. “Students and staff came back from Teach
Day excited, having learned about the wide variety of educational licensure options Stout offers. They
added how impressed they were with Stout as a whole, as for many students, Teach Day is their first
interaction with a college campus.”
Donnelly began as the School of Education director in July. She has her bachelor’s in vocational
rehabilitation, now known as B.S. in rehabilitation services, and her master’s in education from UW-
Stout, as well as her educational specialist degree from University of St. Thomas and a Doctorate of
Education from Bethel University.
In addition to its undergraduate degrees, the School of Education offers postgraduate degrees
in career and technical education, education, school counseling, and school psychology, as well as
nine education certificates and certifications.
These programs are among the many workforce-ready programs administered in Heritage Hall. A
groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sept. 9 to celebrate the start of the three-year, $144.3 million
Heritage Hall renovation project that will transform the half-century-old building into a cutting-edge
educational hub to help meet Wisconsin’s workforce needs.
UW-Stout, a member of the Universities of Wisconsin, is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a
focus on applied learning, collaboration with business and industry, and career outcomes. Learn
more via the FOCUS2030 strategic plan.
