Find, educate, and place a diverse teaching workforce composed of highly qualified graduate students and establish teacher residencies to support the university’s mission.
The Opportunity
Find and Recruit a More Diverse Teaching Population
To support the mission of the school and achieve excellence in teacher education while fostering inclusivity in the field, a top-tier teaching institution recognized a misalignment between the teaching workforce and the student population. More than half of U.S. school children are children of color, but less than 20 percent of the nation’s teachers are teachers of color, with only two percent being African American men. The benefits of having a more diverse teaching faculty extend beyond academics; students of color are less likely to be suspended and more likely to be identified as gifted and talented. Recognizing the imperative for change, the institution sought a collaborative partner to find innovative solutions for this problem.
The Insight
Remove Barriers
Teachers from diverse backgrounds face major barriers in getting into education. For example, requirements for admission (e.g. the GRE, minimum credit hours, or a major in undergraduate coursework in the area of teaching) stifle these candidates from starting an application. Removing these barriers to entry was the first step in addressing this workforce gap.
The Solution
Create a Bridge Between Employers and Students
The institution partnered with Noodle to create an innovative program that collaborated with employers in diverse areas. In this case, school districts across the U.S. created residencies for students in the graduate teaching program at the university. Noodle worked with the university to find diverse candidates for this program, which was specifically built with an emphasis on diversity and inclusion.
Noodle simultaneously established relationships with U.S. school districts to secure teaching residencies and job placements for the students post-graduation. In addition, Noodle worked with both the school districts and schools to ensure opportunities for generous scholarships and stipends for residency students.
Our Approach
Alignment to the Mission
The Right Curriculum
Faculty built the program with the mission and objective at the center. They agreed that building community and understanding identity were core to the success of the program and meeting the objective.
With the Right Students
Recruiting students from diverse backgrounds was key. This collaboration remains grounded in the core beliefs that every child deserves an excellent education, and diverse schools should possess a teaching force that mirrors the local community.
And the Right Employers
Each school district provides full support for the students in these programs. During the program and school-based residency, teacher residents are coached, instructed, mentored, and supported to prepare aspiring teachers for life in the classroom.
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