Wayne Township schools program helps immigrant teachers pass Indiana licensing exam

When Daniela Robledo came to the U.S. from Argentina in 2006, she didn’t just move away from her family and homeland: She left behind her dream job.

Just nine months into her first year of teaching preschool, Robledo and her husband moved to the United States. Despite the fact she’d earned her college degree in Argentina, Robledo worked in housekeeping and retail for years while learning English. She eventually earned certification as a teacher’s aide.

“I have that kind of personality that I can adapt to every situation,” Robledo, now 44, said. “That is the characteristic that helped me to go through all these years with not actually practicing my degree.”

But now, nearly two decades after leaving her teaching job, Robledo is studying to be a teacher again. She’s one of eight participants in a Wayne Township Adult Education pilot program called Praxis Prep that’s preparing college-educated immigrants to get their teaching licenses in Indiana. The semester-long pilot program launched earlier this year.

Many of the students in the class are underemployed despite their degrees, working as paraprofessionals — teacher’s aides — in Wayne Township or in other westside school districts.

Because U.S. education and licensing requirements are different from other countries, immigrants trained in certain industries such as health care and education have to get recertified to work in the U.S. That process, which can be lengthy, means highly educated immigrants are often overqualified for the jobs they are seeking. In 2023, 20% of immigrants with a college degree were unemployed or working low-skill jobs, according to Migrant Policy Center.

In order to teach in Indiana, those educated outside the U.S. must meet requirements through the Indiana Department of Education, including matching non-U.S. classes to their U.S. equivalents, having classroom experience and passing the Indiana licensing exam, called Praxis.

Christy McIntyre-Gray, director of Wayne Township Adult Education, said the Praxis Prep class was designed to guide aspiring teachers through that rigorous process.

“They’ve worked really hard, they have skills to contribute,” McIntyre said. “You’re seeing that contribution as a paraprofessional.”

Program staff say the certification program won’t just help these individuals get better jobs. It’ll help their future students, especially those from immigrant families, to have a teacher who understands their native language and experience.

“They know how to reach that child, whereas someone who comes from a different background may not know how to reach that child, because they can’t connect,” said Efila Jzar, instructor for the prep class. “It’s a richness that’s brought.”

McIntyre-Gray hand-selected most of the participants for the pilot program based on their shared experiences as immigrants. But eventually, she’s hoping to expand the prep class to all aspiring teachers who are not yet certified.

State lawmakers, though, added some uncertainty to the program’s future. The most recent Indiana state budget cut $4 million from adult education programs.

McIntyre-Gray doesn’t yet know how the cuts will impact Wayne’s budget and the teacher prep program specifically. She’s waiting for the state to provide more information about what Wayne Township’s share of the adult education budget will be over the next two years.

“How it plays out locally is hard to tell,” McIntyre-Gray said. “They have a lot of challenging decisions to make.”

For now, she’s forging ahead with the program as students continue to prep for the exam.

How to teach a teacher

Though students come into the prep class with some teaching experience, they exit not just prepared to sit for the exam, but to teach in a modern classroom.

Coming into the class, many of the teacher prep students struggled with technology, whether because the U.S. uses it more than their home countries or simply because education has changed significantly over the years.

To help her students learn these skills, Jzar weaves technology skills into every aspect of her class, teaching students how to use Google Slides and ChatGPT while they hone their writing and math skills for the exam.

Instead of teaching them just how to pass the licensing exam, Jzar wants her students to be able to continue learning best practices for teachers throughout their careers.

“If I teach them how to teach themselves to move forward, they can teach themselves anything,” she said.

The program is in its pilot phase and will go through the first week of June. After that, students will take the first round of licensing exams, which evaluate their reading, writing and math skills.

After they get their license, students will be able to student teach, either in Wayne Township or another district.

Getting back in the classroom

Markens Mezier taught high school math in his home country of Haiti. But when he moved to the U.S., that wasn’t a possibility.

To make ends meet, Mezier worked in a warehouse for two years while taking English classes at night.

The transition was difficult for him. The only heavy things Mezier was used to lifting, he said, were books.

“It was a motivation for me to come to adult education to learn English and pass the test,” he said.

Mezier’s been an instructional assistant at the Ben Davis Ninth Grade Center for three years now, where he works with students learning English as a second language. He largely translates for students who speak Haitian Creole. Indianapolis has between 20,000 and 30,000 Haitian immigrants, according to the Haitian Association of Indiana.

“When the student comes from another country, English is new for them,” Mezier said. “So you need someone to say, ‘Welcome. OK, you are in a good place to learn. Don’t worry, I can help you.’”

For Victoria Ebea, sharing her experience as an immigrant has been essential to helping her English language students build confidence in their own skills.

“I used to tell them, ‘I’m also bilingual, I’m also an immigrant,’” she said. “If you’re serious about what you want to do and you’re determined that you have a goal and you’re focused, you get it done.”

When Ebea and her husband moved to the U.S. from Nigeria to be closer to her daughter, she couldn’t teach anymore because her degree and certificate didn’t line up with U.S. requirements.

In the interim, Ebea got certified as an aide, working with students learning English as a second language.

But teachers in her school noticed her classroom management and discipline skills and encouraged her to get certified. When McIntyre-Gray invited her to join the prep class, it was those votes of confidence that motivated her to sign up.

At 62, Ebea’s older than most of the other students preparing for the certification exam. But the class has helped her develop skills that’ll help her in her personal and professional lives.

“Being in America, standing in the classroom as a teacher,” she said. “That will be an unexpected dream come true.”

As for Robledo, she’s hoping to teach her own class one day soon. She wants to return to early childhood education — which was her career path in Argentina years ago. That passion for educating young children never left her.

“Kids are more innocent, but they are waiting from the teacher to learn,” she said. “I like when people want to learn.”

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire by email [email protected], on most social media @clairerafford or on Signal 317-759-0429. 

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