Strategies
Diversifying Teaching and increasing High Quality Educators
The following strategies are part of our efforts to recruit, retain, and sustain diverse educators and our initiatives to
Click to go to see information on Grow Your Own educator workforce development pathways.
Grow Your Own Pathways: Many of the districts that received Diversifying Educators grants are actively creating teacher academies/pathways for high school students with 12 credits of College Credit Plus (CCP) in education and required English composition courses. The courses and curriculum are consistent with Sinclair Community College's work to create articulation agreements (pathways) with each partner IHEs that addresses credits needed from high school to community college to four-year university. Students also earn a certificate in trauma-informed care in education and will ultimately graduate with a Bachelors' degree in teacher education from Miami University., Wright State University, or the University of Dayton. The districts and Sinclair are designing dynamic curriculum materials taught by teachers approved as adjunct instructors.
Click to find more information about assistance with OAE exam preparation
Ohio Assessment for Educators (OAE): The grant also supports preparation for the Ohio Assessment for Educators (OAE) licensure exam preparation, which helps candidates pass the exam. This work is essential to ensuring that graduates from teacher education programs secure licenses and are eligible to teach.
Too often the collaborative recruitment, paraprofessional pathways, professional certificates, and internship opportunities.
Click to see more information on mentoring and critical supporting positive culture. CommUNITY and mentoring.
Mentoring and Creating a Positive Culture: Students during high school will be mentored by college students from IHEs, majoring in teacher education. These pre-service teachers will receive stipends for mentoring. In turn, high school BIPOC youth will also benefit from opportunities to tutor and mentor younger middle school students, which provides "in vivo" exposure to the educator role. The development of mentoring training materials and procedures will be led by the University of Dayton and Miami University staff working together. Professional development is an integral part of creating a positive culture for diverse educators and students.
YouScience
Career Exploration: Our strategies include the identification of students who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color and take YouScience validated assessments, showing the aptitudes, talents, and interests associated with a possible career in education.
YouScience assesses 15 domains to match teens with possible career choices. Teachers, coaches, and other staff will be incentivized to recommend students who seem to show characteristics aligned with teaching even if the teens have not yet taken the YouScience exam. The career exploration process will feature teaching as a way of creating community change and emphasize the urgently needed cultural capital of students.
Teach 24!
One of the strategies of both meeting the significant shortage of teachers and to increase diversity of educators, is the creation of scholarships or tuition assistance, including some funds for books or licensure exams. Teach 24 is a project that builds upon local collaboration around increasing diversity in the teaching profession and uses that synergy to meet the urgent teacher shortage that has only intensified as the result of the global pandemic. Our program includes the institution of higher education partners which were part of the Ohio Deans Compact grant to increase the recruitment and retention of teachers who identified as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). These institutions include Wright State University, who serves as the official applicant, Miami University, Central State University (Ohio’s only public historically black college or university (HBCU), and the University of Dayton. These higher education partners are now committed to not only increasing diversity but addressing the immediate shortage of all teachers.
National data predicted a teacher shortage of more than 316,000 educators by 2025 (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond & Carver Thomas, 2016). An ACT Research and Policy brief from 2018, showed that between 2007 and 2017, the number of high school students expressing an interest in teaching declined dramatically (Croft, Guffy & Vitale, 2018). The Center for American Progress observed declining enrollment in teacher programs even before the pandemic (2019). Ohio is no exception. Between 2010 and 2018, Ohio experienced a decline of nearly 50% of students in teacher preparation programs and the lack of diversity continued. Nationally, a survey of district leaders and principals found that more than 75% reported that they are experiencing moderate staffing shortages and 15% reported very severe shortages and 25% stated shortages were severe (EdWeek, 2021). The National Association of Secondary School Principals released results showing 68% of principals are worried about the teacher shortage in 2021-22 and 41% are extremely concerned (2021). Principals in Montgomery County Ohio are echoing the same shortage, which is impacting daily operations.