When Cece Perrotti graduated from Kennett High School in the Kennett Consolidated School District, she knew two things: She wanted to be a teacher and she wanted to teach in her home school district.
“When I talk to most people about being an educator, a lot of it comes from a love of your community. You want to give back to the community that raised you,” Perrotti says.
Now a WCU senior with a double major in early grades and special education, she is poised to do exactly that. Perrotti will student teach in her home school district and be given consideration for a full-time job. Partnering In Raising Inclusive Zealous Educators (PRIZE), a groundbreaking program in the College of Education and Social Work, made it possible.
Developed in response to Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage, PRIZE partners with school districts to increase the number of students in WCU teacher preparation programs, leading to more teachers for the districts. It answers a critical need: In 2024, 6,200 new teachers were certified in the state, down from 19,000 in 2013. In addition, nearly 9,500 Pennsylvania teachers left the profession between 2022 and 2023.
A working group to devise a solution was formed in the College of Education and Social Work. The group included representatives from the college and from the WCU offices of admissions, financial aid, career services, housing, plus school district representatives. The result was the brainchild of the college’s Dr. Desha Williams: PRIZE, a dual-enrollment program launched in January 2023 for high school seniors interested in becoming teachers. High school students in partner districts can earn up to seven college credits in education classes for free at West Chester. Costs are shared by the University, University donors, and the districts. Students return to their home districts to student teach and are shown preference in sponsor districts for hiring after graduation.
“When I talk to most people about being an educator, a lot of it comes from a love of your community. You want to give back to the community that raised you.”
- Cece Perrotti, PRIZE program participant
Students who took college classes as high school seniors note the benefits. “In addition to helping with your course load, it builds connections early on and provides you with a chance to develop maturity before you actually get to college,” Perrotti says. PRIZE student Faith Bullen, a sophomore music education major, agrees. While some students take classes virtually, with the help of her school counselor she was able to arrange her senior year schedule at Avon Grove High School to attend in person. “It’s an amazing opportunity to have because you’re seeing what it’s like to navigate from class to class,” Bullen says.
Summer Teaching Academy
PRIZE high school students are guaranteed admission to West Chester with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average. Although participants aren’t required to enroll at the University, rising high school seniors experience campus life by attending a free weeklong Summer Teacher Academy held in June. Attendees take a one-credit educational technology course, live on campus, and eat meals in the dining hall. Education student Ariel Hudson ’26 served as PRIZE Ambassador at the academy. “It was my responsibility to assist the students, accompany them on excursions and help them get around campus. I also served as their resident assistant,” Hudson says.
“The summer academy was helpful to me because I had never left home before. … It was my first time experiencing what it would be like to live on campus and it introduced me to what campus life would be like,” says Bullen.
Dr. Katie Solic, PRIZE Program director, says her work with the program has fueled her optimism about the future of education.
“So often I think education has a public relations problem. We only hear stories about things not going well,” Dr. Solic says. “What has been so re-energizing for me in PRIZE is that so many of the high school students I engage with are so excited about teaching.”
That energy is apparent at Signing Day held during the academy. Recent high school graduates entering West Chester who participated in PRIZE the previous year sign declarations committing to academic study for teaching careers in sponsoring districts.
Advocacy and Removing Barriers
PRIZE was designed to remove barriers that might prevent a student from participating. The cost of $600 per class was absorbed via contributions from partner school districts and from the University. The cost of the Summer Teacher Academy is covered by donors and grants. Because technology allows students to take classes online, barriers presented by transportation are eliminated.
“For us, it's about equity.”
- Dr. Katie Solic, PRIZE Program Director
PRIZE is a worthwhile investment says Lance Bogash ’74, a veteran educator for 48 years in the Southeast Delco School District. He supports the program and was instrumental in Southeast Delco becoming a partner. “It's just a great idea. I support it wholeheartedly. Last year I went to the signing day. As a former coach, I loved seeing that,” he says, noting that he’s excited to see three students from his former district participating.
“For us, it’s about equity,” Dr. Solic says. “We have a representation challenge in the education profession, so we are really trying to open doors to a broader spectrum of people.”
Pennsylvania has made progress in making teaching more accessible, for example, the PA Student Teacher Support Program, which awards a $10,000 grant to student teachers and a $2,500 stipend to their sponsoring teacher. Students awarded the grant commit to teach in a Pennsylvania school district for three years after graduation. Available on a first-come, first-served basis, the goal is to make it available to all student teachers.
WCU students participate in the advocacy efforts. May 2026 graduate Ariel Hudson participated in a panel in support of the student teacher stipend. “I talked about my application process and how the stipend would help me,” she says. PRIZE students Bullen and Perrotti also have attended events on campus and in Harrisburg in support of education programs, including meeting Governor Josh Shapiro.
The Power of Partnerships
Interest in PRIZE has grown steadily. Eight students participated in 2023- 2024, growing to 26 in the 2025-2026 academic year. Thirteen school districts are partners.
Other partnerships include the Philadelphia Urban Seminar, The Kennett Experience in the Kennett Consolidated School District, and the Transitional Living Program offered by the CCIU for students with disabilities. (Read about the partnership that offers Special Education students paid paraprofessional jobs.)
School districts are enthusiastic about PRIZE. Dr. Melissa Figueroa-Douglas, equity and advancement officer for the Colonial School District, was part of the working group that helped to design the program. Thirteen students from her district participate.
Dr. Figueroa-Douglas says, “We need to make sure that we have a pipeline in place to help support, build, and sustain what is needed to continue to promote accessible, rigorous education for all students across the Commonwealth.”
Dr. Anthony Rybarczyk, Coatesville Area School District superintendent, notes that PRIZE is a win-win. “The opportunity for our students to participate in such an exceptional program through a highly accredited university is incredibly exciting. Even more meaningful is the potential for these students to return to Coatesville to complete their student teaching and, ultimately, pursue professional positions within the district. This creates a full-circle opportunity for them to give back to the very community that helped shape their educational journey.”
“We need to make sure that we have a pipeline in place to help support, build, and sustain what is needed to continue to promote accessible, rigorous education for all students across the Commonwealth.”
- Dr. Melissa Figueroa-Douglas, Equity and Advancement Officer for the Colonial School District
Rammy joins aspiring teachers Marissa Herring (L) and Faith Bullen (R) at the 2025 PRIZE signing ceremony.
Education Students Conduct Summer Research
This year’s cohort of Student Undergraduate Research Institute (SURI) participants included several from the College of Education and Social Work whose projects explore aspects of teacher preparation. Two examples:
This summer, Paige McNamee worked with her SURI mentor Dr. Dawn Patterson, assistant department chair and professor of special education (see story) to research the development of a modified curriculum to support the Spirit Lake Tribe Head Start Program in North Dakota. Early intervention is crucial to the language and communication development of all young children, but especially to those living in poverty, McNamee explained in her abstract. Limited access to literacy-rich interactions can impact early language development and school readiness. Lesson plans that are created will support staff through teaching modified books. A double major in early grades preparation and special education, McNamee is also working on a minor in autism studies.
For her SURI project, Honors College student Layla King (also a 2025 SURI participant) explored how video-based analysis has been used in both pre-service and in-service contexts to support teacher learning. She proposed to integrate equity-oriented approaches with video analysis tasks to support teacher candidates and novice teachers across multiple universities — not only to be able to recognize key aspects of student thinking, but also to broaden that recognition to ensure the classroom environment and learning activities value students’ ideas, life experiences, and cultural and linguistic resources. Her abstract also described a larger project: investigating the relationship between developing professional vision for equitable science teaching and teacher effectiveness and retention in high need schools through a collaboration of seven science teacher preparation programs. King is an English education major with a minor in philosophy; her SURI mentor is Dr. Brett Criswell, associate professor of secondary education.
