Detroit schools partner with MSU to expand autism teacher pipeline

Detroit Public Schools Community District is partnering with Michigan State University to expand its pipeline of teachers certified in autism spectrum disorder education, as identified cases rose from 1,035 in 2019-20 to 1,957 projected for 2026-27. The district will pay tuition for teachers' endorsement coursework while 25 teachers begin the first two-year cohort.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti attributes the rise partly to pandemic-era gaps in socialization and diagnosis, saying the district is 'playing catch up.' The district currently employs around 120 teachers working with autistic students and has cut overall teaching vacancies from roughly 400 to about a dozen during Vitti's nine-year tenure.

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