In the Boston Public Schools, 87 percent of students are minorities but only 38 percent of teachers are, and the percentage of minority teachers has been declining for decades. A story on WBUR, Boston’s NPR station, looks at efforts to recruit and retain more minority teachers.
Anna Egalite, an author of a recent study of the impact on student achievement of having a teacher of the same race, is interviewed in the segment.
“Overall, students have higher test scores in years when their teacher shares their race, but this was particularly true for elementary students and particularly those students who are lower-achieving in previous years,” she said.
To attract more minority teachers, Boston has developed its own pipeline, explains Bruce Gellerman.
Boston’s new pipeline includes the recently launched BPS High School to Teacher Program. It identifies city students in high school who would make great teachers. The program then provides the students with mentors, gives them college prep courses, half their tuition and if they are successful, teaching jobs. And, 87 percent of the participants are black or Latino.
There’s also the Community to Teacher Program, a rigorous nine-month course for city residents with college degrees who want to switch careers to work in classrooms.
– Education Next
