Some Indiana schools began to employ adjunct professors after a difficult start

Indiana – Last year, Indiana legislators gave school districts the green light to issue their own permits and recruit adjunct teachers for vacant teaching positions.

After some hesitancy, school districts are now starting to use adjunct professors, who must first pass a background check, have four years of relevant experience, and are not required to hold a state teaching license.

Although the Indiana Department of Education withheld information regarding the number of adjunct teachers employed in Indiana schools, four districts and one charter school were recently listed as hiring adjuncts on a statewide job board for teachers.

Statewide, there are 1,720 job openings for teachers, a tiny decrease from the roughly 1,800 that existed at the start of the 2022–23 academic year.

The district’s Insurance Careers Pathway is a career and technical education program for high school students that prepares them to enter the insurance industry after graduation. Earlier this month, the Perry Township school board accepted a plan to employ an adjunct teacher for the program.

According to Jane Pollard, the district’s associate superintendent for career development, the district’s business teachers instructed the first of three courses in the insurance careers pathway.

Although only one component of the course will be taught at each high school, Pollard said, “it made sense to consider a licensed industry professional” for the position because Perry does not currently have someone on staff with the qualifications to teach it.

After being hired, the instructor will have direct approval from the school board and will then instruct one period at each of Perry’s two high schools, says the district. There are no other adjunct instructors working with Perry.

A Chinese language adjunct teacher is also being sought by the nearby Center Grove school district. According to Stacy Conrad, the district’s executive director of communications, the district already had a candidate in mind: the current Chinese language instructor, who holds a Canadian teaching license and required extra time to take the state teaching exam.

“The high school is using the adjunct option to give her time to get licensed and still be able to continue to offer Chinese to students,” Conrad said in an email.