Our Vision
All students are taught by a highly effective teacher who prepares them for success in college, careers and life.
Our Mission
Cultivating a thriving educator workforce that meets the educational needs of local communities.
The Challenge & Opportunity
The teaching profession has reached a crisis point. The pandemic has exacerbated an already fragile educator labor market, resulting in the most acute school staffing shortages in recent memory. Black and Latinx teachers are substantially more likely to say they plan to leave the profession, widening an already growing diversity gap. This is a troubling trend, particularly since a growing body of research shows that teachers of color boost academic performance, college outcomes, and school climate.
In order to ensure that all students have access to a high quality education, students need and deserve diverse, highly effective teachers. Expanding the teacher workforce to meet changing demographics and learner needs requires innovative new recruitment and retention strategies that expand the pool of diverse, high potential future educators, reduce barriers to entry and ensure educators at all levels are set up for success.
There is a growing body of evidence of high impact strategies to recruit and retain educators of color. These include: early exposure to the teaching profession through high school teaching academies and college educator pathway programs, alternative certification programs that reduce barriers to entry and provide strong practice-based experience, such as grow-your-own programs and teacher residencies, along with ongoing support structures and professional growth pathways, such as affinity spaces, mentorship, and teacher leadership opportunities.
However, despite growing adoption of these promising new strategies, the urgent need for well prepared, diverse educators far outpaces the supply. Most school systems have limited capacity to meet the increasingly complex challenges of attracting and retaining strong, diverse teachers.
