With a historic pool of federal education funds now available to help address the effects of the pandemic, school districts and states have a unique window of opportunity to transform education — including by diversifying their workforce through recruiting, training, and retaining more Black and Hispanic teachers.
Window of Opportunity: How States and Localities Can Use Federal Rescue Plan Dollars to Diversify Their Teacher Workforce considers the recruitment and retention strategies that states and districts can implement today, including:
- Actively recruiting high school students to the teaching profession.
- Creating or expanding pathway programs to the teaching profession, including “grow your own” programs.
- Partnering with institutions of higher education, especially minority-serving institutions and historically Black colleges and universities.
- Funding meaningful professional development and mentoring and establishing networks and communities of practice.
- Committing resources to actively educate prospective teachers with comprehensive information about underutilized federal and state subsidies.
- Training school leaders to provide better support and to create an inclusive and autonomous environment for teachers.
Research shows that a diverse teacher workforce benefits all students — especially historically underserved students in American education, in particular Black students. The question is, will states and districts take this moment to build and sustain a diverse teacher workforce?
Download the full report here or read it in the viewer below.
