PHILADELPHIA AND PITTSBURGH – July 20, 2021 – As school districts statewide prepare to return to the classroom, they are making decisions on how to best use the new federal funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC), representing prominent educators and advocates across the state, is calling for more of those dollars to be directed toward programs that have been shown to increase racial diversity among teachers.
Pennsylvania has one of the highest disparities between students and teachers of color in the nation. The percentage of teachers of color in the state has been below six percent for almost a decade while the percentage of students of color has increased from approximately 30 percent to 36 percent. Even more striking, male teachers of color comprise only slightly more than one percent of Pennsylvania teachers.
According to Sharif El-Mekki, CEO, Center for Black Educator Development, research has shown several ways students benefit from having teachers of color.
“All students benefit from increased teacher diversity. They are better prepared to participate as informed and engaged citizens in an inclusive national civic culture and increasingly complex world,” El-Mekki said. “Pennsylvania’s teacher pipeline begins at the K-12 level and extends through college, certification, and entrance into the teaching profession. The pipeline ends at teacher retention. We must examine all levels of Pennsylvania’s teacher pipeline as it loses teachers of color at each stage.”
Having culturally relevant educators has been shown to improve scholastic outcomes for all demographic groups while also helping alleviate teacher shortages, but leaders who spoke at today’s ELLC news conference say targeted funding is key.
“The American Rescue Plan for Education offers an incredible opportunity for schools and districts to invest in education diversity efforts as school leaders can use these funds to recruit and hire educators of color and mentor students of color as they consider becoming educators,” said Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Higher Education Dr. Tanya Garcia. “The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is working with educators and partners across the commonwealth to support this work and the development of competencies needed to provide culturally relevant and sustaining instruction.”
One of those partners is Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, which is teaming with PDE and Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) under a statewide initiative called Aspire to Educate. In Cheyney’s version, students can attend CCP for two years and then transfer to Cheyney for their final two years to earn their education degree.
“The idea is to get teachers of color back into the pipeline,” said Cheyney President Aaron A. Walton. “It’s a dynamic program where we are bringing in people who may have been in other professions and want to change over to become teachers. We are also attracting people who left college before graduation and may want to come back and switch to a teaching career. In both cases, we are re-establishing the pipeline. These partnerships among educational institutions make this program work.”
Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (PACTE) President Dr. Gwen Price cited programs at Temple, LaSalle, Edinboro, and Slippery Rock Universities that have formed teacher development partnerships, including dual enrollment programs, with area school districts.
“We must find ways to recruit candidates that are representative of a student population that will endeavor to serve,” Price said. “The recruitment must start early, defining the pivotal role that educators play in the development of young minds, redefining the perception of public education as a career, finding financial incentives and supports to make the pathway to becoming a teacher more enticing and removing the barriers known to disproportionally keep underrepresented groups from entering the field.”
Dr. Valerie Kinloch, Renee, and Richard Goldman Dean at the University of Pittsburgh said, “we need to take seriously the implications of our diverse students never seeing a teacher who looks like them in their schooling experience.
“Additionally,” she said, “while it is important to have a diverse teaching force, we also need to ensure that every teacher is culturally responsive. We can’t take for granted that because you are a person of color means that you are innately culturally responsive, and since our white teachers are in the majority, we need to ensure that they have the tools they need to educate students of color and white students for a diverse world.”
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet and School District of Philadelphia Chief Talent Officer Larisa Shambaugh said their respective districts are committed to using ARP funds to continue to build programs and partnerships to prepare more diverse students to enter the teaching profession. They urged other districts to do the same.
The host of today’s event, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh President and CEO Esther Bush said the Pennsylvania coalition has a focus on developing and supporting a diverse education pipeline for both teachers and administrators with an emphasis on maintaining education opportunities for Pennsylvania, especially those in need.
“We are looking for more funding in three areas: building lasting and equitable systems of teaching and learning, safely reopening schools for all students, and addressing pre- and post-pandemic unfinished learning,” she said. She also noted that 184 school districts in Pennsylvania have no teachers of color, which she called both a challenge and an opportunity for growth.
All speakers at today’s virtual event are members of the Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium. ELLC, which was derived from Council of Chief State School Officers, the Council of Great City Schools, and the National Urban League are funded by the Wallace Foundation. Speakers represented the following agencies organizations: Pennsylvania Department of Education, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Center for Black Educator Development, School District of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, and the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher and Educators.
