Chapter 1: High Impact Recruitment Strategies
Chapter Summary
There is no single program or initiative that will effectively increase the number of teachers—and particularly teachers of color—entering the profession and continuing to teach for the long term. Increasing the number of individuals entering the profession requires a comprehensive approach that includes:
early exposure and incentives for high school students to explore the teaching profession;
financial incentives, such as service scholarships and forgivable loans, to underwrite the cost of high-retention preparation; and
district-based initiatives that include high-touch hiring and recruitment practices.
Teachers are essential to students building the knowledge and skills they need for their future. Without well-prepared teachers working in every classroom, it is difficult for schools to sustain the types of transformational and supportive learning environments students need and deserve. But amid declining teacher preparation enrollment, rising preparation costs, inadequate professional supports, and stagnating compensation, schools and districts face a broad range of challenges that undermine their ability to recruit and retain a stable, effective, and diverse teacher workforce. This chapter focuses on effective recruitment strategies that must be paired with a thoughtful approach to retention (addressed in Chapter 3) to reduce the teacher turnover that plagues schools and districts and undermines student success.
The steep decline of individuals entering the profession is deeply connected to declining overall interest in teaching as a career. Across the country, there were more than one third fewer students enrolled in teacher preparation programs in 2018 than in 2010.[13] In addition, recent surveys from ACT consistently show limited interest among high school students in becoming teachers and an overall unfamiliarity with important elements of teaching as a profession.
While there are many reasons for the declining interest, including the profession’s perceived low status, the economic impact of becoming a teacher plays an outsized role. The boom-and-bust cycles characterized by high numbers of teacher layoffs—such as during the Great Recession—can dissuade college students or graduates from becoming teachers because of the perceived lack of job security.[14] Compared to similarly educated professionals, which we discuss in Chapter 5, low salaries are another factor that dampens interest, especially among individuals with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees, who may have better, higher-paying job prospects in other fields.
The burden of student debt is another factor depressing the available supply of future teachers and, importantly, future teachers of color. Average student debt ranges from $20,000 to $50,000 for individuals entering the field of education. This financial burden can impact choices individuals make about how they enter the field—whether they complete the preparation before accepting a teaching job—and whether they remain in the classroom.[15] While the debt burden associated with teacher preparation has impacted enrollment overall, research suggests that the debt burden may hold more sway over students of color regarding their career choices. Students of color are more likely than White students to report that loans limited their choice of educational institution, and Latinx students were most likely to report feeling limited by loans.[16]
High student loan debt from undergraduate education, together with the high cost of teacher preparation programs, may contribute to prospective teachers and prospective teachers of color increasingly turning to alternative certification programs. These programs, which typically do not include extensive student teaching and preservice coursework, contribute to higher teacher turnover rates and may undermine the long-term retention of teachers of color.[17] A range of financial incentives at the state and district levels are needed to make high-quality preparation more accessible and affordable to future teachers before they step into the classroom as the “teacher of record.”
Insights on Diversifying the Educator Workforce
The Center on Great Teachers & Leaders’ data tool helps states, districts, and preparation programs analyze data to understand the underlying causes of racial diversity gaps in the teacher workforce. The tool allows users to identify and visualize diversity gaps across the entire career continuum.
Increasing the pool of teachers, and teachers of color in particular, depends in part on increasing the number of people enrolling in and completing teacher undergraduate or postgraduate preparation programs. That means understanding the additional barriers teachers of color face on their path into the profession and the challenges they confront once in the classroom. This chapter focuses primarily on the barriers to entry, and Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 explore the obstacles to long-term retention. The specific barriers to entry into teaching begin in the k–12 system and continue through to entry into the teaching profession itself. (See Figure 1.) The early obstacles, in particular, are rooted in documented gaps in opportunity and achievement and disparities in discipline and attendance. [18]
Figure 1. The Pool of Potential African American and Latinx Teachers Dwindles Along the Teacher Pipeline
Source: Carver-Thomas, D. (2018). Diversifying the teaching profession: How to recruit and retain teachers of color. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/diversifying-teaching-profession-report (accessed 01/28/21).
There is no single program or strategy that can effectively increase the number of teachers, particularly teachers of color, entering the profession and continuing to teach for the long term. In this chapter, we discuss three recruitment strategies being used to address barriers to entry into the profession:
Early exposure to the teaching profession through initiatives for high school students
Service scholarships and forgivable loans to alleviate the financial burden of teacher preparation
Focused district strategies to attract talented and diverse candidates to teach in their schools
Teacher Academies and Other Early Pathways
Teacher academies work to elevate teaching and lay the groundwork for future recruitment by helping high school students understand and connect with the profession before entering college and starting their career path.
High school teaching academies and other early pathways geared toward high school students introduce young people to the teaching profession and often offer incentives for those who return to teach in their local district. These programs, often viewed as Grow Your Own (GYO) programs in their own right (see Chapter 2), operate on a longer timeline and embed career-focused courses on education topics alongside work-based experiences. More than an after-school club or extracurricular activity, teacher academies work to elevate teaching and lay the groundwork for future recruitment by helping high school students understand and connect with the profession before entering college and starting their career path. School districts that operate teacher academies typically provide incentives to support students in becoming teachers. One incentive is to offer dual-enrollment credit, which allows high school students to earn college credits and thus lower the cost of pursuing a college degree. Another is to guarantee future jobs to high school students who decide to pursue a teaching career and then, after completing their preparation, return to their home districts to teach.
Grow Your Own Programs
“Grow Your Own” is a term that is used to describe a range of programs that focus on preparing and supporting local residents to teach in their communities, including some high school teaching academies or other programs geared toward high school students. In this Playbook, we use the term to describe programs focused on attracting and preparing college students and/or paraprofessionals to teach in their “home” district.
Source: Educators Rising Facebook, 2021.
Programs like Educators Rising (see “Building the Next Generation of Teachers: Jose Carrillo and Educators Rising”) and the South Carolina Teacher Cadet Program make a case for teaching as a viable and rewarding future career choice and provide opportunities for high school students to practice the skills and dispositions that will help them become quality educators. In addition, emerging registered apprenticeship models, like CareerWise Colorado, seek to provide financial incentives to high school students participating in academies. While research into outcomes from these programs remains limited, states and districts have been working to pair investments and supports for these high school academies with GYO initiatives as part of a comprehensive and long-term approach to growing and diversifying the teaching profession.
Find more videos to learn about EdRising’s Grow Your Own work.
Federal Funding to Support High School Academies and Other Early Pathways
States and districts seeking to cultivate pathways into the teaching profession for interested high school students can leverage federal Perkins Career and Technical Education Act funds for this purpose. To access funding from the $1.3 billion provided annually for career and technical education (CTE) programs across the country, states submit a plan for approval, identifying the specific CTE areas eligible for funding under the plan.
By incorporating high school teacher pathways into a broader state CTE plan, states can help districts access this funding as they build and design their programs to meet local needs.
Since the teaching profession qualifies as a career pathway, states and districts can provide students with coordinated work-based learning opportunities or early college courses. Through their participation in a teaching career pathway, students can earn credits that satisfy degree requirements for education majors.
Building the Next Generation of Teachers: Jose Carrillo and Educators Rising
Educators Rising (EdRising) is a national membership organization for aspiring teachers and their mentors, including more than 2,400 affiliate schools in 31 states and regions. Students ages 13 and older who are considering a career in education can join and become official EdRising members. Currently, the organization has over 43,000 student members, 51% of whom are students of color.
Now attending Texas State University, aspiring educator Jose Carrillo joined his local EdRising affiliate, the Texas Association for Future Educators (TAFE), during his sophomore year at North Garland High School in Garland, TX. Carrillo has remained an active EdRising member beyond high school as he pursues his undergraduate degree in History with a minor in Secondary Education. Carrillo is also the organization’s 2020–21 national student president, a role that allowed him to continue serving as a student representative for his region while enrolled in college courses.
Carrillo plans to earn his social studies certification for grades 7–12 and then teach high school history. As a future high school teacher, Carrillo hopes to build impactful relationships with students and engage them in shaping the future:
“A big reason I want to become a teacher is that I want to not only be a role model, but I want to be someone for students who understands their background; someone who looks like them. Where I grew up, I didn’t have many teachers who looked like me. I didn’t have my first Latino teacher until my sophomore year … but that teacher made an impact on me and was one of the big reasons I want to become a high school teacher.”
Carrillo is also keenly aware of the need to understand and engage with education policy, something he hopes to do while becoming a teacher and in the classroom. He has been a vocal proponent of recruiting and retaining more people of color to the profession and has worked closely with EdRising affiliates across the country to generate interest in teaching. He is also leading efforts to establish an EdRising chapter at Texas State.
Source: Discover PPS, 2021.
The Brashear Teaching Academy
The Brashear Teaching Academy Magnet is located within Pittsburgh Brashear High School (Pittsburgh Public Schools). It recruits potential future teachers into an introductory and exploratory experience designed to help students develop “a clear self-image and the ability to evaluate their own suitability for any career.” The program includes opportunities to observe teachers, plan lessons, tutor younger students, and teach classes, all while students are building their communication skills and developing a commitment to their broader community.
Founded in 1989 as the Langley Teaching Academy and later moved after Langley High School closed, the program has been in existence for more than 30 years. One of the key features that sets the Brashear Teaching Academy apart from other high school programs is a recent partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools. In 2019, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and the Pittsburgh School Board reached an agreement to incentivize students’ participation in the program and teaching careers. Beginning in the 2023–24 school year, program graduates will be guaranteed a job with Pittsburgh Public Schools after completing a college-level and state-approved teacher preparation program and receiving their teaching certification.
Leaders at Pittsburgh Public Schools, like Brian Glickman, Director of Talent Management, see the work of the Brashear Teaching Academy as a key strategy in helping the district address an overall shortage of teachers and as a means of diversifying its teacher workforce. He says, “It’s a very commonsense approach to look at the students that we (already) serve.”[19] In the 2018–19 school year, the academy served more than 100 students in grades 9 through 12, and 84 of those identified as Black.[20]
Recruiting Washington Teachers
Washington state established Recruiting Washington Teachers (RWT) in 2007 as part of an effort to diversify the teaching workforce and tackle teacher shortages. The program consists of a network of high school teaching academies that provide career-learning opportunities for students and support their college planning. More than 764 students have graduated from RWT academies in four school districts since 2008. For 2019–20, 73% of all RWT program participants (including the Bilingual Educator’s Initiative highlighted below) identified as students of color, compared with the state average of 47.5%.[21] Although the program structure varies by site, RWT is grounded in five curricular themes: healthy learning community, culture and identity, equity and opportunity, equity pedagogy, and college access. All sites include an internship component that provides students with the opportunity to shadow an elementary or middle school teacher.
Although multiyear statewide data is not available, the program is making its mark on Renton High School, one of its longest-running sites, where three RWT graduates are now working as certified elementary school teachers. In Renton and Tacoma, RWT students also have the opportunity to become certified paraeducators, allowing them to earn a salary and continue fieldwork as they pursue their college degrees. In the 2017–18 school year, 12 students in Tacoma (48%) passed the ParaPro praxis exam, as did all of Renton’s 14 students, making them eligible to apply for paraeducator positions anywhere in the state.[22] The program is also changing students’ perceptions of who can be a teacher. As RWT student Palepa Seui noted, “I didn’t really know that teachers could look like me.”
In 2018, Washington launched a Bilingual Educator’s Initiative (RWT-BEI) to prepare and mentor bilingual students of color to become future teachers, building a teaching corps that is more aligned with the state’s growing Latinx and immigrant student populations. Through this program, competitive grants, ranging from $50,000 to $175,000, have been awarded to six school districts and district consortiums across the state. Students learn about the bilingual teacher shortage; engage in a curriculum that addresses stereotypes; encourage positive, multilingual identities; complete fieldwork; and visit college campuses. RWT-BEI is expanding, with $10,000 mini-grants awarded to six additional Washington school districts in November 2019. The grants support program planning, including visits to established sites and participation in professional development, to lay the foundation for future academies.
South Carolina’s Teacher Cadet Program
Founded in 1985, South Carolina’s Teacher Cadet Program seeks to build a robust pipeline for teacher recruitment and retention in the state. The South Carolina General Assembly funds the program to address the state’s enduring teacher shortage. More than 71,000 cadets have participated in the program over its 36-year history. The Teacher Cadet Program is offered in 76 of South Carolina’s 82 public school districts and has been used as a model for programs in 39 other states.
The Teacher Cadet Program offers a yearlong dual-credit, college-level course to nearly 3,000 high school students each year through partnerships with local colleges. A central component of the program is Experiencing Education, a curriculum exclusively designed for Teacher Cadets, which aligns with the rigorous standards of professional educator associations, such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC). Through a curriculum focused on learning about the teaching profession and field experiences in South Carolina public school classrooms, participating students gain an insight into critical education issues.
The program’s impact on teachers’ recruitment and retention demonstrates the potential for initiatives aimed at high school students to be part of a comprehensive state response to persistent teacher shortages. The annual cost of the program is approximately $150 per student, with 1 out of 5 high school cadets eventually earning a teacher certification.[23] During the 2017–18 academic year, 2,280 students completed the Teacher Cadet Program across the state, and nearly 30% indicated they intended to pursue teaching after college. Nearly 1 out of 4 students who plan to teach indicated they were undecided or planned to pursue a different career before participating in the Teacher Cadet Program.[24] The program also demonstrates a positive impact on the diversity of the state’s teaching profession. During the 2019–20 academic year, 34% of Teacher Cadets who completed the program were students of color, and 22% were male.[25]
Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Teachers
Established in 1994, Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Teachers (TSTT) is an 8-year, full-circle career development and mentoring program that targets culturally diverse high school students from low-income families for college and careers in the teaching profession. In 2020, the program served more than 800 students across 4 states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia) in 40 districts and 21 partnering colleges and universities. Of those students, 45% identified as Black and 40% as Latinx. As of 2020, more than 165 TSTT college graduates had completed the 8-year curriculum and were teaching in 9 states. TSTT graduates have a 5-year retention rate of 90%, and 20% are teachers in STEM classrooms.[26] Partnering districts pay a $3,000 per student fee and help identify 9th graders to participate to support the program.[27]
The program’s success begins with a clear focus on supporting and retaining students on their path to teaching through high school and college. Starting in 9th grade, participants receive academic supports and mentoring alongside internship and job-shadowing opportunities. TSTT’s 21 partnering colleges provide a scholarship worth, at a minimum, 50% of tuition as part of their support for TSTT students.[28] Jeffery Cole, a TSTT alumnus who is now Assistant Superintendent for Special Education in the New Rochelle School District in New York, highlighted TSTT’s impact on his career path: “When I was in high school, teaching was the furthest thing from my mind. TSTT changed that.”
University of Colorado Denver’s Pathways2Teaching
Pathways2Teaching is an innovative teacher academy program designed to address teacher shortages and increase the racial diversity of the teacher workforce in and around Denver, CO. Established in 2010, the program seeks to introduce and encourage high school students of color to enter the teaching profession by providing hands-on classroom experience and transferable college course credits in education in partnership with local schools and the University of Colorado Denver. Importantly, Pathways2Teaching curriculum is an approved program of study through the Colorado Career and Technical Education (CTE) Office, allowing schools to leverage state CTE and federal Perkins funding to support the program.
The program has shown marked success in its push to increase the diversity of Denver teachers, with 95% of participants identifying as students of color, including nearly 60% identifying as Latinx and 35% identifying as African American; 42% of the participants are male. Since its founding in 2010, the program has enrolled nearly 450 participants.[29] A noteworthy feature of the program, meant to ensure accessibility to all interested students, is the absence of any GPA requirements for participation.
Pathways2Teaching emphasizes developing students’ academic skills and increasing college access by building participants’ writing and public speaking skills and supporting their college application and financial aid processes. In 2013, all students who were part of the first program cohort took college courses while in high school, and 18% declared an education major in college, far exceeding the national average.[30]
To help sustain student motivation and engagement in teaching and provide students the opportunity to earn an income while taking undergraduate courses, Pathways2Teaching offers a paraprofessional certification option. Upon completing the paraprofessional program (nine course credit units and fieldwork), students receive a ParaProfessional Pathways2Teaching Certification that enables them to work in their local school districts as paraprofessionals. Since its founding in Colorado, the program has been adopted in Minnesota, New York, and North Carolina as part of broader efforts to diversify the teaching profession. In addition, a partnership with faculty at Eastern Oregon University has sought to replicate the program across three rural school districts that serve predominantly Latinx and Native American communities.
Service Scholarships and Forgivable Loans
More than two thirds of future teachers take out student loans to fund their preparation.[31] The high cost of college, combined with teachers’ expected low salaries, has contributed to a steady decline in enrollment in teacher preparation programs over the past 10 years and a shortage of qualified teachers in communities across the country.
As described earlier, the costs of teacher preparation and the potential debt incurred are even more significant barriers standing between future teachers of color and the classroom. Against this backdrop, efforts to subsidize or lower the cost of entering the profession through targeted service scholarships and loan forgiveness programs have taken on added urgency. Within the context of increasing the teacher workforce’s racial diversity, such financial supports will be a key feature of any comprehensive policy approach.
TEACH Grants
The federal Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program provides scholarships of up to about $4,000 per year (for up to 4 years) to undergraduate and graduate students who are preparing for a career in teaching and who commit to teaching a high-need subject in a high-poverty elementary or secondary school for 4 years.
In response to complaints from grant recipients, the Department of Education developed a “reconsideration process” to help teachers who had their grants converted to loans despite fulfilling their service requirements.
Service scholarships and loan forgiveness programs, when of sufficient size to address the high costs of preparation, can open a professional pipeline for a more diverse and representative generation of educators. Further, they can help solve persistent teacher shortages in high-need fields and schools (e.g., schools that serve a high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or a school designated as low performing). Both types of programs underwrite the cost of teacher preparation in exchange for a commitment of a certain number of years of service in the profession. Service scholarships provide upfront grant funding for candidates tied to a service commitment. At the same time, loan forgiveness programs ensure that candidates’ loans to fund their teacher preparation will be forgiven after they complete a service commitment. Service scholarships and loan forgiveness programs enable teachers to focus on students—rather than working a second job to pay off their student loan debt—and ease the burden for early-career teachers earning low salaries. Both programs also give policymakers the ability to boost new teachers’ compensation without increasing future pension obligations.
Research shows that service scholarships and loan forgiveness programs can attract high-quality teachers to the schools and subjects where they are needed. Recipients are also more likely to stay in the teaching profession, allowing them to build the meaningful relationships with students that are crucial to learning, and allowing districts to avoid the substantial cost of hiring new teachers every year (ranging from $9,000 in rural districts up to $20,000 in more urban districts).
Design Principles for Service Scholarships and Loan Forgiveness Programs
Research suggests that the following five principles are key to creating programs that effectively attract strong teachers into the profession and promote retention. Effective programs:
Cover all or a large percentage of tuition.
Target high-need fields and/or schools.
Recruit and select candidates who are academically strong, committed to teaching, and well-prepared.
Commit recipients to teach, including reasonable financial consequences if recipients do not fulfill the commitment (but not so punitive that they avoid the scholarship entirely).
Minimize bureaucracy and paperwork for participating teachers, districts, and higher education institutions.
At least 40 states have established service scholarship and loan forgiveness programs, which are typically tailored to address a particular state’s unique teacher workforce challenges. However, not all programs are equally effective at recruiting new teachers generally and teachers of color specifically or in addressing teacher shortages. In addition to potentially onerous paperwork or processes by which an individual demonstrates a completed service commitment, one common flaw is the limited number and size of scholarships awarded.[32] Too few scholarships and smaller scholarships or forgivable loans to each candidate may also limit impact, as is suggested by research on programs in states offering smaller awards. Notably, the higher the percentage of tuition covered by the scholarship, the greater the funding’s influence on the recipients’ decisions to become teachers and teach in high-need schools.[33]
Collaborative Urban and Greater Minnesota Educators of Color Program and Minnesota Indian Teacher Training Program
The Collaborative Urban and Greater Minnesota Educators of Color Program aims to support the racial diversity of Minnesota’s teacher workforce through grants to the state’s urban teacher preparation programs. Universities that receive funding offer supports to teacher candidates of color that include subsidized tuition, mentoring, exam preparation, and stipends for candidates who are student teaching. Two partner universities offer programs tailored to candidates of East African and Southeast Asian descent, specifically. For FY 2019, the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board awarded $970,000 in funding for the program to eight higher education institutions.
A 2021 legislative analysis of the program found that of the 171 program beneficiaries who graduated between 2016 and 2019, 114 (67%) had obtained a standard teaching license by July 2020, and almost three fourths were employed as public school teachers in Minnesota at some point after graduation.[34]The report also indicated challenges with data collection and tracking that undermined current efforts to demonstrate impact on the teacher workforce’s racial diversity.
The Minnesota Indian Teacher Training Program (MITTP) provides scholarships to Native American students who pursue careers in education. Funding for the program has continued under various names since 1991. In 2019, the program was expanded to include scholarships to Native American students seeking to enter any career in an educational setting from pre-k through grade 12. The program supports access to academic coursework and preparation for aspiring teachers, along with Native American language and culture educators, early childhood educators, counseling or mental health services providers, paraprofessionals services, administrators, and school health care and social workers. This program is currently offered at six universities and colleges. Scholarships are granted to applicants who are enrolled members of a federally recognized tribal nation or a first- or second-degree descendant of an enrolled member. For the 2019–20 academic year, the program distributed $460,000 to the participating universities.
North Carolina Teaching Fellows
One of the oldest and most successful service scholarship programs is the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program. The original version—which started in 1986, was canceled in 2011, and was phased out by 2015—recruited more than 11,000 teachers across the state. A longitudinal study found that these fellows had higher retention rates than their peers and were more effective educators, as measured by their students’ test score gains.[35]
North Carolina reinstated the Teaching Fellows program in 2017. The program now provides forgivable loans of $8,250 a year to students committed to teaching STEM or special education in a North Carolina public school. For every year a teaching fellow receives the award, they are required to teach 2 years at a public school in North Carolina, or they can choose to accelerate their loan forgiveness schedule by teaching at a low-performing public school. In addition to financial incentives, the program supports participants through a collaborative cohort, including access to professional development and experiential learning opportunities.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Teacher Preparation
Founded prior to and in the decades following the Civil War, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have played an outsize role in the education of Black Americans. Up until the mid-1960s, HBCUs remained the only higher education option available for many Black Americans, and their commitment to the preparation of teachers and school leaders endures to this day.
There are 102 HBCUs throughout the country. Despite representing only 3% of the total population of postsecondary institutions in the United States, HBCUs enroll 16% of all Black students in higher education and award 24% of all baccalaureate degrees earned by Black students nationwide. Notably, HBCUs prepare 50% of the nation’s Black teachers.
Despite these accomplishments, the Teaching Fellows program has struggled with recruiting diverse applicants. In its final year of recruitment, the original program aimed to select at least 20% participants of color and 30% men. However, it fell short, with only 17% participants of color and 24% men selected. Thus far, there has been even less diversity under the current program. In 2018 and 2019, more than 80% of the teaching fellows finalists were White women.
The need to leverage the reinstated program to support the state’s push toward a more racially diverse teacher workforce has not gone unnoticed. In a May 2019 appropriations act, the state legislature proposed expanding the institutions operating the Teaching Fellows program from five universities to eight to include a more “diverse selection” of higher education institutions. Currently, the five participating preparation programs do not include historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) or other minority-serving institutions (MSIs).
These efforts may gain further traction through Governor Roy Cooper’s task force, Develop a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education (DRIVE). The DRIVE Task Force represents a broad pool of community members—including parents and guardians of students, teachers and school leaders, representatives from nonprofit education advocacy organizations, and local and state government officials. The task force released its final report outlining inclusive recruitment strategies in January 2021.
Oregon Teacher Scholars Program
In 2017, the Oregon state legislature established the Oregon Teacher Scholars Program to increase the diversity of the teacher workforce by targeting culturally and/or linguistically diverse students already enrolled in teacher preparation programs. The state’s Educator Advancement Council (EAC) operates the program and awards selected students $5,000 per year for up to 2 years. (In 2021, legislation was introduced, as recommended by the EAC, to increase this amount to $10,000.) Scholars can use the money for any educational expenses, including tuition and living expenses. To qualify, individuals must be “ethnically diverse” and/or a heritage speaker of a non-English language.
In addition to receiving financial support, Scholars have access to professional resources and opportunities to support them through their preparation and after they enter the classroom. For example, Scholars are invited to attend the annual Future Teacher Conference to meet with potential employers and network with other Scholars. The program has intentionally developed a strong networking community that connects all of the Scholars across their respective universities. Scholars also have access to professional development and support in areas such as interview skills, résumé development, and navigating cultural barriers in the workplace.
To continue supports for Scholars as they begin their careers, hiring school districts are strongly encouraged to provide the new teachers with a “culturally or linguistically diverse” mentor for at least the first 2 years of their employment. Past Scholars also remain involved with the program by recruiting others to the teaching profession through the Oregon Teacher Scholars Program.
In its first 2 years, the Teacher Scholars Program awarded scholarships to 117 students—48 students in the 2018–19 school year and 69 students in the 2019–20 school year. The majority of Scholars are female (72%). The majority are Latinx (61%), and a smaller number are Black (4%), American Indian (4%), or Native Hawaiian (4%). Funding from the state doubled for the 2020–21 school year, and the EAC expanded the number of scholarships to 150. Further, due to the smaller number of Black, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian Scholars, compared to Latinx Scholars, an advisory committee was established to develop a plan to support the increased recruitment of these populations into the program.
Minority-Serving Institutions and Teacher Preparation
Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are institutions of higher education that serve racially diverse populations across the country. They are unique in their missions and include HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Asian American and Pacific Islander–Serving Institutions (AAPISIs).
According to a 2013 survey of teacher preparation programs administered by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), in 2009–10, MSIs produced a more diverse candidate pool than predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Additionally, teachers of color who attended an MSI were more likely to graduate with a bachelor’s degree from a school or department of education compared to teachers of color who attended a PWI.
Wisconsin Minority Teacher Loan Program
The recently expanded Wisconsin Minority Teacher Loan Program was initially developed in 1989 to increase the racial diversity of the state’s teaching profession. Over the past 4 decades, the program has sought to address the low percentage of teachers of color working in Wisconsin.
The program now offers loans to students of color who are enrolled in teacher preparation programs leading to licensure in a designated high-need subject area and who have at least a 3.0 GPA. Eligible teacher candidates receive loans of up to $10,000 per year for 3 years, for a maximum of $30,000, and commit to teaching full-time after graduation in a school with a student population of at least 40% students of color. Loans are forgiven at a rate of 25% for each year of teaching.[36]
Restrictions on program eligibility made in the state’s 2015–17 budget (Act 55), including requiring that loan recipients teach in a high-need area in Milwaukee and receive “proficient” or “distinguished” Educator Effectiveness ratings, resulted in a substantial decline in program applicants. There were just 11 awardees between 2015 and 2018, in contrast to an average of 75 awards granted per year from 2008 to 2015.[37] The program had over $500,000 in funding for the 2018–19 and 2019–20 school years, however, and has begun to re-expand its applicant pool.
The most recent expansion bill (Act 35), signed by Governor Tony Evers in late 2019, broadens candidates’ employment options statewide to include working in Beloit, Green Bay, Madison, or Racine, in addition to Milwaukee. Act 35 also expands eligible applicants to include students of Asian or Pacific Island origin, Alaska Natives, and students whose ancestry includes two or more races. Eligibility was previously limited to African American, Latinx, and Native American students, and Southeast Asian students from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Source: Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program, 2021.
Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program
The Sherman STEM Teacher Scholars Program in Maryland is a targeted service scholarship initiative that has demonstrated success in preparing aspiring educators interested in teaching in urban schools that serve higher proportions of students of color. With support from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and local school partners, Sherman Scholars are exposed to a wide range of professional and educational opportunities, such as academic coaching, applied learning experiences at local schools, and a cohort system that helps to connect their passion for education and STEM disciplines with social justice.
To lower the financial barriers to pursuing a teaching career, the program awards multiyear scholarships to participating students, ranging from $3,000 to $15,000 per academic year. The program also offers assistance in securing external financial resources to supplement tuition. The scholarship program is open to students enrolled at UMBC. Students must be enrolled in a Master of Arts in Teaching program or seeking a teaching certificate in elementary or early childhood education or secondary education in a STEM field.
Throughout their coursework, the scholars participate in education internships, mentoring, and seminars with UMBC faculty and other experts. The program’s commitment to scholars continues beyond graduation through a strong alumni network as well as professional coaching and support services during their first few years of teaching. Since its establishment in 2007, the program has supported more than 150 students, 80% of whom are currently in teaching professions. According to a 2015 study, nearly 40% of all Sherman Scholars have been students of color, which is substantially greater than the percentage of teachers of color in Maryland schools (25.6%).[38]
District Strategies to Recruit and Support Teachers of Color
As highlighted at the start of this chapter (and throughout the Playbook), the recruitment and retention of well-prepared teachers—teachers with strong content and pedagogical knowledge and the ability to demonstrate both—are central to improving schools and addressing persistent educational inequities. Teachers of color benefit students of color, serving as role models, cultural translators, and advocates; having high expectations; and supporting social, emotional, and academic growth. District and school leaders face a range of decisions regarding building and refining racially affirming school systems that can increase the recruitment of well-prepared teachers into their schools and better support and develop teachers’ skills throughout their careers. Along with these more thoughtful strategies meant to support the recruitment of teachers in general, district and school leaders have access to a range of specific strategies that are effective at recruiting teachers of color.
A growing number of districts are updating and tailoring their hiring practices to include more targeted outreach beyond traditional job fairs and demonstrating to potential teachers of color that their skills and expertise are vital and needed. Districts are refining their interviewing processes and leading with values and practices rooted in a commitment to racial justice to welcome a more racially diverse staff. These efforts are not strictly confined to recruitment efforts meant to expand the available pool of new teachers. As discussed on the following sections, individual programs or strategies are often embedded in a broader plan and framework meant to shift the long-term makeup of the teacher workforce.
Because teachers of color often teach in schools that experience higher turnover rates, some districts are improving school climate and working conditions and refining development and support systems to ensure they can retain the racially diverse teaching staff they recruit. Efforts include developing mentoring supports that build on and are informed by the experiences of teachers of color working in schools with a predominantly White staff, and supporting all teachers—including teachers of color—in developing culturally responsive and sustaining approaches to teaching and learning. While many such programs focus on building the skills of White teachers, it cannot be taken for granted that teachers of color have these skills. All teachers can benefit from preparation and ongoing support in these practices. These efforts can relieve some of the burden carried by educators of color, who often feel undervalued by administrators and colleagues—another factor that undermines their retention.
To ensure that current and future teachers of color experience the supports and opportunities that help maximize their impact on students, districts and principals must offer leadership opportunities for teachers of color and ensure they experience professional learning and growth beyond their early careers. Chapter 3 takes a closer look at teacher retention generally, and Chapter 4 discusses the role of principals in supporting a stable and diverse workforce.
The following section highlights district programs that demonstrate recent and ongoing efforts to build equitable systems of recruitment, hiring, early career mentoring, and professional learning that are aligned toward the common goal of recruiting and retaining a stable and racially diverse teaching staff. These efforts rarely appear isolated from broader district initiatives but are instead deeply woven into strategic plans and values.
Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky
Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in Louisville, KY, launched a comprehensive effort to increase the racial diversity of its teacher workforce following the approval of its first-ever Racial Educational Equity Plan in 2018. The plan outlined action steps for 2019 and 2020 meant to improve racial educational equity across the district and “reduce persistent gaps in achievement, learning, expectations, opportunities, and disciplinary outcomes among students based on race and ethnicity.”
To grow and develop a sustainable pipeline of racially diverse teachers for classrooms across the district, JCPS has also invested in recruitment and preparation strategies. In 2019, the district expanded the central office’s capacity to support recruitment and retention efforts by establishing additional positions across its human resources department. The district has also begun recruiting teaching candidates well before they finish their preparation program, providing conditional offers of employment to aspiring teachers of color during their sophomore year in college.
To prepare more future teachers of color from the community, JCPS has also partnered with the University of Louisville’s College of Education and Human Development on both the Louisville Teacher Residency and the Multicultural Teacher Recruitment Program (MTRP). Since 1985, the MTRP has recruited individuals into JCPS by targeting potential candidates in local middle and high schools and community colleges and career changers. The program provides a range of supports, including one-on-one coaching, student networking and support, community partnerships, certification testing assistance and resources, job placement support, and $2,000 in annual scholarship funding.
In addition to broader efforts to build racial equity into the district’s work,[40] a key component of the JCPS effort also includes increasing participation in the district’s equity institutes and racial equity trainings, which support staff in addressing implicit bias and other relevant topics. Programs like these may play an important role in reducing feelings of isolation, frustration, and fatigue teachers of color express at having to advocate for students of color on their own. Specifically, the Equity and Inclusion Institute supports teachers as they learn about the need for culturally relevant pedagogy, connecting with parents, building relationships and classroom management, and developing the skills to implement these practices. An evaluation of the Institute in 2013–14 found that of the more than 300 educators who attended, 91% reported a change in how they viewed their students, suggesting that they developed a greater equity lens toward students of color.[41]
Initial outcomes from this comprehensive approach have led to progress toward the district’s recruitment and retention goals. In October 2020, the district employed more teachers of color than at any time in its history (1,117 out of 6,738 teachers). The district is also seeking to diversify its school site leaders. Eight of the last 12 principals hired by JCPS are Black, and the district now has 213 Black male teachers. The district reduced its Black teacher attrition rate from 14% to 7% between 2019 and 2020.[42]
Source: NYC Men Teach, 2021.
NYC Men Teach, New York
The City University of New York (CUNY) NYC Men Teach program is a partnership between the Office of the Mayor, the New York City Department of Education, and CUNY designed to recruit male teachers of color through targeted recruitment and ongoing support. The program is part of the New York City Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) with support through the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity).
When the program was established in 2015, it set an ambitious goal for improving the racial diversity of the New York City teacher workforce by adding 1,000 male teacher candidates of color into the teacher pipeline. In just 3 years the program quickly met this goal, and it continues to provide financial aid to program participants, with the goal of supporting them through the certification and hiring process. Participants in the program have access to a range of supports designed to address common barriers to aspiring teachers of color making it into the classroom. These include financial and certification supports, such as monthly MetroCards and free certification exam practice tests, as well as access to a dedicated program counselor who can advise them on needed coursework and connect them with any needed academic supports. The program also provides 2 years of mentoring that connects participants with other teachers of color and helps them build their skills as culturally responsive educators through a semester-long seminar.
In addition to meeting its initial goal of recruiting 1,000 male teacher candidates of color, NYC Men Teach has seen early progress in supporting future teachers through the program. A 2019 qualitative look at the program’s design and survey of participants’ experiences found that the various supports and mentoring experiences provided to participants positively influenced participants’ consideration and pursuit of a teaching career. Further, the study indicated that a majority of participants from CUNY went on to either apply for a job as a New York City teacher or indicated they were likely to do so.[43]
Another component of NYC Men Teach, Village Pathways, provides multiple routes meant to identify and support men of color in the community who are interested in teaching but might not be ready to enter a specific preparation pathway. Village Pathways allows interested participants to explore teaching as a career by providing opportunities to take on school-based roles either as paraprofessionals or as after-school teachers. Beyond the training and supports provided through Village Pathways, the paraprofessional pathway helps participants meet certification requirements through monthly teacher training programs.
Seattle Public Schools, Washington
Seattle Public Schools (SPS) has established a core commitment to student and workforce equity centered on increasing the racial diversity of teachers and supporting all educators and school staff in gaining skills to make learning more culturally relevant. To bring this commitment into schools, the district has developed trainings for teachers and school-based staff to support their growth as culturally responsive practitioners and has established school-based teams composed of teachers, support staff, families, and school leaders working collaboratively to make decisions about school-based functions. Included among the new trainings is one focused on culturally responsive decision-making specifically related to budgeting, professional development, and Continuous School Improvement Plans (CSIPs).
Building on these comprehensive efforts, the district has also launched a GYO program, the Academy for Rising Educators (ARE), which focuses on recruiting candidates of color and helps recent graduates, SPS staff, and community members earn their teaching certificate. The program provides candidates with tuition, academic, and wraparound supports; helps them build their skills as future teachers; and connects them with a range of classroom practice experiences.
The program has provided me an opportunity to satisfy a lifelong dream of becoming a certificated teacher.… I look forward to having the opportunity to continue to promote equitable access to education and remove barriers to academic success for the students of Seattle Public Schools.
ARE has seen early success in building a strong pipeline of racially diverse candidates into the program. For example, the 2020–21 cohort was twice as large as the previous year and included four times as many African American male candidates.
Beyond the recruitment and preparation of future teachers, the district is focused on developing current teachers of color into leaders to expand their influence and retain them in the classroom. Specifically, SPS has also established a Teacher Leadership Cadre that provides opportunities for teachers to remain in the classroom while coaching, mentoring, and leading professional development for their peers and colleagues.
The district has seen early progress in its comprehensive efforts. Seattle Public Schools has surpassed many of its recruitment targets for the 2020–21 school year by an average of 10%. This includes 35% of all new classroom teachers who identified as educators of color; 54% of all new school leaders who identified as staff members of color; and 55% of all new central office leaders, such as directors of schools, who identified as staff members of color.[44] To help explore the impacts of these efforts and refine the district’s approach to recruiting and retaining educators of color, SPS has established a research partnership with the University of Washington College of Education, hoping it will provide continued direction and guidance.
Springfield Public Schools, Missouri
In 2019, Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, MO, established the Equity and Diversity Advisory Council to drive a “multi-pronged approach” to recruit and retain more racially diverse teaching staff. The council comprises more than 40 community members and meets twice a month to assess the district’s current work and develop recommendations for the next steps. These efforts include expanding recruitment efforts to job fairs located in more diverse cities and at HBCUs; partnering with local educator preparation program leaders; networking with diverse leadership groups, such as the Association of Latino Administrators and the National Alliance of Black Educators, to advertise openings; offering early notice incentives to encourage schools to begin the hiring process months ahead of their usual windows; and providing equity and antibias training for all district staff.
Valley Stream 13 Union Free School District, New York
Valley Stream 13 Union Free School District in Hempstead, NY, is one of 124 districts on Long Island. On average, on Long Island, 92% of public school teachers are White (95% across Valley Stream 13). In two thirds of the schools on Long Island, there are no Black teachers. Valley Stream 13 is working to shift this stark disparity by overhauling its hiring processes—from applicant screening to interview protocol—to build more equitable and intentional recruiting and interviewing processes that seek to remove potential barriers for teachers of color.
To start, the district’s human resource department closely tracks the racial diversity of candidate pools throughout each phase of the hiring and interview process. This tracking allows administrators to identify potential barriers throughout the multi-step hiring process that prevent hiring more diverse candidates. The district also ensures that hiring committees are racially diverse and representative of the teacher workforce they hope to hire. To avoid using exclusionary screening steps, the district has eliminated automatic disqualification of candidates who do not meet specific criteria, such as years of experience, GPA, or the number of certifications. Instead, staff who review résumés and applications focus on evidence that candidates possess valued traits, such as a growth mindset or cultural awareness.
To further address potential barriers during interviews, district staff create questions that speak to broader district values around diversity and work to convey a sense of those values to candidates. To encourage candidate success in interviews and alleviate any potential pre-interview nerves, hiring committees provide the questions to candidates when they arrive for their interview. In addition, the district creates rubrics for interview committee members that provide additional structure and increase the likelihood of a more objective assessment of each candidate’s skills and strengths. Finally, to help address potential barriers with taking time off from work to attend in-person interviews, the district conducts all first-round interviews over live video. Anecdotal evidence from leaders across the district suggests early progress in this effort.