To Address a Teacher Shortage, North Country Union High School Looked to the Philippines

For years, North Country Union High School principal Chris Young regularly received teaching applications from overseas. He never seriously considered them, believing too many cultural barriers and logistical challenges would result.

But this school year, driven by a persistent teacher shortage in his rural district, Young decided to take a chance on three applicants from the Philippines. Their country has a surplus of trained teachers who are eager to work in America, where they can earn much higher salaries.

The women — science teachers Nina Tangcalagan and Daryl Paderogo and math teacher Jhocel Yabo — arrived in Newport in August. Five months in, school administrators and the Filipina teachers say the arrangement is working well.

Tangcalagan, Paderogo and Yabo all have experience in the classroom and a strong command of their subject areas, Young said. “What’s exciting,” he added, “is how they’re building relationships with students” by teaching them about life in the Philippines while also learning about American culture.

For Tangcalagan, teaching at North Country is the culmination of a long-standing dream to come to the U.S. to work and save money, she said.

Lynn Cota, superintendent of Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union, has also hired three teachers from the Philippines in the past two years. She called it “a new recruitment strategy” for rural school districts like hers, which are hearing from fewer and fewer qualified applicants.

Hiring troubles are no surprise. Baby boomer teachers are retiring, while fewer young people are entering the field. Nationally, enrollment in teacher preparation programs declined 45 percent between the 2010-11 and 2020-21 school years, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Enrollment has bounced back a little since then, but not enough to fill the gaps.

To address hiring difficulties, Vermont schools are increasingly asking the Agency of Education to sign off on one-year emergency and two-year provisional teaching licenses that can be granted to those who do not have all the qualifications required to teach in their subject area. The number of such licenses rose from 433 in 2017 to 795 last year, according to the Vermont Agency of Education.

The teacher recruitment problem can be particularly acute in places like North Country Supervisory Union, a rural district bordering Canada that serves 2,600 students in 12 towns. The district has relied heavily on teachers with emergency and provisional licenses.

The state has rolled out several initiatives to address the problem, including a “Grow Your Own Pathways” apprenticeship program in the Northeast Kingdom, in which candidates complete requirements for a teaching license while working in a school. The state has also expanded its peer review system, an alternative route to licensure in which candidates submit a portfolio that is assessed by a panel of experienced teachers.

But while states including Colorado, Arizona and Texas have hired hundreds of teachers from the Philippines, it’s still a rarely used strategy in Vermont. Vermont Rural Education Collaborative executive director John Castle, who served as superintendent of North Country Supervisory Union from 2014 to 2022, said administrators may be reluctant to hire teachers who lack a connection to Vermont. Another concern is that the teachers will stay for a few years and then leave, which makes it an unsustainable solution.

The fact that some schools are hiring from overseas “is an illustration of how challenging filling positions really is” right now, Castle said.

Once North Country administrators decided to hire abroad, the Filipina teachers took on the challenge of getting to Vermont, Young said. Through a competitive application process, they obtained J-1 visas, which allow foreign educators to teach in the U.S. for three years, with the option of a two-year extension. They found a cultural-exchange organization to sponsor them — a requirement for the visa — and paid their own way to Vermont.

Because none of the women has a U.S. driver’s license, they needed to live within walking distance of the high school. Fortuitously, a former teacher in the district agreed to rent them a duplex just around the corner. Other teachers have been generous with rides to Walmart and the grocery store.

Now settled into their classrooms, the women are getting used to life in Vermont. During an interview in Paderogo’s classroom this month, they reflected on their experience living and teaching in Newport.

Students in the Philippines, Tangcalagan said, “are more obedient.” If they are talking when they not supposed to, for example, all you have to do is stare at them and they’ll be quiet, she said. Vermont teens, on the other hand, “are expressive and outspoken and sometimes they are going to really say what’s on their mind.”

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Yabo added. She finds she’s able to talk more openly with students here. Many North Country students have jobs after school, which makes them more mature, she said.

Food has helped the women connect with Vermont teens. Yabo had never used an oven before coming to the U.S. because only affluent people in the Philippines have the appliance, she said. When she mentioned that to her class, they were eager to teach her how to bake. In December, a group of students guided Yabo through the process of making cupcakes. Newly emboldened, she’s recently begun using the oven in her apartment.

With ingredients procured at Asian markets in Burlington and New Hampshire, the teachers have introduced popular Filipino dishes to their students, including lumpia, a type of spring roll; pancit, a noodle dish; and barbecue skewers. This kind of exchange also helps the three teachers comply with a requirement of the J-1 visa for sharing their culture with the school community.

Paderogo, a self-described “city girl,” worked for seven years at a private Catholic school in the bustling capital city of Manila. Still, she said the quiet environment of the Northeast Kingdom suits her.

Tangcalagan and Yabo, meanwhile, taught the children of farmers and fishermen in public schools in the rural province of Zamboanga del Norte. Newport doesn’t feel that different, they said, except for the climate. All three women experienced snow for the first time this winter; North Country administrators encouraged them to take their students outside to play in it.

Tangcalagan has also been able to enjoy cold-weather activities with her family. At the end of November, her husband and 6-year-old daughter moved to Vermont to live with her. Her daughter, now a first grader at Newport City Elementary School, gets a thrill from playing in the snow during recess, Tangcalagan said. Recently, they went ice skating at a local rink, and her daughter loved it so much that she didn’t want to go home.

Yabo’s two children, ages 4 and 10, are back in the Philippines. She’s planning to visit them in February but, in the meantime, must settle for regular video calls.

Sarah Pickering, the high school’s director of learning design, has supported the newly arrived teachers in adjusting their curriculum, instructional techniques and grading to align with Vermont standards. Pickering described them as “delightful and caring humans” who are eager to learn and well prepared for class every day. Given North Country’s lack of racial diversity, Pickering said, learning from teachers with a different background is a great opportunity for students.

Tenth grader Danika Phillabaum agrees. Phillabaum said Yabo’s approach to teaching math doesn’t feel that different — except that she initially graded tests for spelling mistakes as well math errors. And Phillabaum said she appreciates the times when Ms. Jhocel, as she’s known to students, shares descriptions of life in the Philippines.

The three women, who are paid on the same salary scale as other North Country teachers, say they hope to stay at the high school for at least three years, but it will be up to the school to decide whether to renew their contracts. There is also some uncertainty about the future of their visas under President Donald Trump .

Young, the North Country principal, said he’d encourage fellow principals to take a closer look at international teachers — if they’re willing to help them find housing and transportation and to support them in the classroom. Teachers from the Philippines are especially compelling candidates, Young said, because they tend to have a lot of teaching experience and are adept at navigating the visa process.

Castle, the Vermont Rural Education Collaborative executive director, said hiring from abroad is a strategy that makes sense in the difficult labor market.

“This is a sign of our times,” he said. “We have to have multiple pathways to ensure we’re filling positions.”

This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2025.

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