State-funded college scholarship successfully tackling WV teacher shortage

There was good news at the state Capitol on Tuesday: a competitive college scholarship is having great success at recruiting and retaining passionate public school teachers in West Virginia.  

The Underwood Smith Teaching Scholarship requires recipients to teach in the state five years after completion of their degree and teach in an in-demand field, including elementary education, mathematics and special education. 

West Virginia has struggled to fill more than 1,000 certified teacher positions. 

“So far, we have 42 Underwood Smith teaching scholars who are currently teaching in a West Virginia classroom in public education,” said Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. “These students are serious. This is what they want to do for their vocation.”

Tucker presented scholarship information Monday to members of the Joint Committee on Education at the state Capitol in Charleston. 

Lawmakers revamped the teaching scholarship in 2019, providing up to $40,000 to high school students in West Virginia who desire to be teachers. The stackable scholarship can be combined with other awards, like the Promise Scholarship. 

The Underwood Smith Teaching Scholarship program receives an annual appropriation of $1.4 million from the Legislature that funds 25 students per cohort. 

“This presentation is really a victory lap for all of you,” Tucker told lawmakers. “I want to thank you for providing these students the opportunity you have provided them.”

Hundreds of eligible students have applied for the scholarship since 2024. It’s a four round-selection process in which a selection committee reviews the applicants’ GPA, test scores and an essay about why the student aspires to be a teacher. Twenty-five students are selected each year to receive the award. 

“I know we hear lots of negative things about West Virginia … These are amazing students, and we have hundreds of them that apply every year that all want to stay here and all want to teach and all want to do better for the state of West Virginia,” Tucker said.

The 42 scholarship recipients are currently working in 22 different counties around the state. 

As Underwood Smith Teaching scholars, students are provided with mentoring to help them prepare for their teaching careers. 

Tucker said that many students who didn’t receive the scholarship still went on to pursue a degree in education.