A charter school in Ocean Hill is hoping to reverse the nationwide teacher shortage problem with a program to prepare college students for future teaching roles.

The Uncommon Schools' Summer Teaching Fellows program is the school system's largest and most successful program for new teachers. The staff say it is especially important right now as schools struggle to fill teaching positions.

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education says the number of students graduating with teaching degrees was at its highest back in the '70s with nearly 200,000 graduates. That number fell to less than 90,000 in 2018-2019.

Daslin Pena and Xiomara Jimenez are both juniors in college and are part of the program. They both hope to become teachers and one day even become principals. Over the last two weeks, the two say they've been getting hands-on teaching experience and leading classroom curriculum themselves.

The principal says they're able to hire most of the fellows, which helps them as they navigate this teacher shortage.