Realizing their position on any list of top public school systems in America will not in itself drive candidates to fill their teacher vacancies, Hartford Public Schools is asking the Board of Education to approve $157,000 so that they may increase scholarship payments to staff members who wish to go through the RELAY teacher certification program.

Although she didn’t mention a time span, Chief Talent Office Tiffany Curtis stated that 28 non-certified staff have completed the RELAY program (which has been at HPS since 2017) and 22 of those folks are currently teaching in Hartford schools.

Students taking the program attend online and evening classes so that they may remain working in their current positions but are released from normal duty if classes occur during school hours.  There is a 24-month Masters track and an 18-month Post Baccalaureate track, both leading to teacher certification.

To obtain the scholarships, students must make a 2–3 year commitment to work at HPS.  With this contract approval, HPS will give out 13 first-year scholarships for $7,555, and 10 second-year scholarships for $5,855.  As part of the tuition payment, the RELAY folks will now tutor students for the PRAXIS test.

In terms of assessing the RELAY program, Ms. Curtis stated that 74% of students have completed the program and earned certification, 63% of graduates are people of color, and 85% of second year students earned a rostered teacher position under a Resident Education Certification.

Since HPS has a poor teacher retention record, one would have thought that a Board Member would have asked about the retention rate of students who have completed their HPS commitment.  Retention rates are on far too few people’s minds these days.

But this is good, right?