Lawmakers Get Update On Teaching Scholarship For High-Needs Subjects

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, West Virginia has struggled to fill roughly 1,500 certified teacher positions. In recent years the West Virginia Legislature has tried several approaches to addressing the persistent teacher shortage including alternative routes to certification like Troops to Teachers and recruiting existing educators with programs like the Teachers Ascend Program. 

But Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, told an interim meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Education Monday that a more traditional approach is showing results.  

The Underwood Smith Teaching Scholarship is a competitive scholarship for high school seniors and recent high school graduates who commit to teaching in one of four high-demand fields in West Virginia for at least five years after graduation: math, science, special education, and elementary education. To give students the greatest chance at success, each is paired with a practicing classroom teacher mentor, who provides guidance throughout their college careers.   

Tucker reported that with data from two cohorts of college graduates that received the $10,000 a year award, 82% are actively teaching in those high needs fields in West Virginia.  

“Some students went to graduate school. Some students got into the teaching field, and they were freshmen, and they were like, ‘You know what? I don’t want to do this anymore.’ So they changed majors just like you would see normally. But we have 42 students who are currently teaching in the state of West Virginia,” she said. 

Tucker reported that the majority of applicants not selected to receive the scholarship still continued to pursue a degree in education. 

“We then went on and looked to see what fields they were going into, and the vast majority of those students all enrolled in teacher education when they matriculated onto college,” she said. “So I give you these numbers because these students are serious. This is what they want to do for their vocation. They’re not just students who are sitting around thinking, ‘Oh, let me apply for every scholarship under the sun.’ These are students who really want to go into the teaching profession.” 

Lawmakers expressed interest in extending the scholarship to students already enrolled in college. Tucker said there would be interest for such an expansion, as almost a quarter of applicants last year were automatically disqualified for already being enrolled in college. 

“In 2025, we actually had 220 applicants. Of the 220, 167 were eligible,” she said. “The majority of those who were not eligible were actually college students who decided they wanted to go into the teaching field, but this program is for high school students who are entering college, so we had to limit a number of those students because they were not eligible based on that criteria alone.” 

Tucker later specified that the program’s allocation in the budget is $1.48 million annually.