Overview
Bold and Aspirational Recommendations
- Expand EPP Pathways For Community College Students
- Create Additional and Increase Capacity of Existing ARCs
- Support Non-certified Staff’s Transition to Teaching
- Expand Certification Pathways and Increase Flexibility
Within Close Reach Recommendations
- Diversify sources and processes for finding teacher candidates
- Make diversity an explicit consideration in the hiring process
- Target college recruitment majors with limited job prospects
- Cultivate candidates with supplementary supports through the hiring process
- Celebrate and acknowledge impactful teachers of color internally & externally
- Implement employee referral programs
Expand EPP Pathways for Community College Students
| What is Available in CT Now? | What Can CT Do Differently? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|---|
|
Pathways to Teaching Careers Associates Degree Program (articulation agreement between CSUs and community colleges) offered, but only in five of twelve Community Colleges Students who complete the program are on an equal footing with native Connecticut State University students to enroll in four-year EPP Programs |
Expand offering to all twelve CT community colleges Open program recruiting chapters at all community colleges where potential enrollees can learn about the profession and transfer options Develop district partnerships to implement service-learning initiatives Encourage collaboration between CSUs and Community Colleges about solutions and strategies for preparing new teachers Hire community college students into after-school program positions and invite promising staffers to pursue careers in teaching |
56% of all Hispanic and 44% of all African American undergraduates enrolled in higher education start at a community college. Expanding pathways program and opening recruiting chapters will increase overall EPP candidate diversity in CT Minority students make up 30% of the community college student body nationally and 50% in some rural and urban areas where the minority teacher shortage is the greatest. Ed reform districts may benefit most from community college candidate cultivation The Connecticut Latino & Puerto Rican Affairs Commission predicts that nine of twelve CT community colleges will see an increase in either Black or Hispanic student populations by 2025, increasing the pool of potential EPP candidates |
What we learned from interviews: Expand EPP Pathways For Community College Students
| Leverage After-school Program Positions |
|---|
| “We reach out to community colleges to fill after-school program staff. At least 2-3 of these staff every year end up in teaching degree programs.” - HR Director |
| Expand Pathways Program |
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| “[A CT teacher colleague of mine] started at a community college and always knew she was going to transition to a state university, but there was no program mapped out for that transition. She already had network of support in the community, but otherwise would have had trouble making the transition. There are so many moving parts and candidates don’t always know where to reach out for support.” - CT Teacher |
Create Additional and Increase Capacity of Existing ARCs
| What is Available in CT Now? | What Can CT Do Differently? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|---|
|
Office of Higher Education ARC offers weekend program for candidates interested in secondary education; $2500 grants available through MTIP Teach for America CT provides 155 corps members each year, most of whom just finished college Relay Graduate School of Education is a recently approved program with a current cohort of 58 noncertified school staff. Office of Early Childhood ARC at Charter Oak offers program to candidates with 3-years’ experience as early childhood educator and undergraduate courses in human development |
Create more options that allow candidates to work while getting certified Create options that attract career changers Create more options that have affordable tuition Relay is currently the least expensive option, with $4,000 out-of-pocket cost for candidates Options to explore include:
|
ARCs, such as TFA and Relay have initiatives targeted specifically at maximizing the number of teachers of color produced by their programs The cost of traditional certification programs leads many people of color to discount teaching as a professional option. Alternative certification programs can significantly reduce the cost of becoming a teacher |
What we learned from interviews: Create Additional and Increase Capacity of Existing ARCs
| Appetite For Teacher Residency Programs As An ARC Option |
|---|
| “The teacher in residence program is giving us the greatest return. The hope is in 4 years, we will have retained the majority of folks who started out with us in the teacher residency. So [it is] not an immediate impact, but it will give us the biggest impact.”
- CMO HR Director |
| “We are part of The Urban Schools Human Capital Academy… I was able to learn from our partner districts that they have teacher residencies - looking at that info was fruitful. We have had conversations about that, and what that could look like. We have a university partner who's interested – but given our budget, that's on hold.”
- Ed Reform HR Director |
| Work While Getting Certified |
|---|
| “So we’re most excited about RELAY and thinking that may be the golden ticket. Very often what we find is when looking at family or person…they have to maintain their income while pursuing [teaching] and that becomes problematic. Relay is the first program we’ve come across where someone came have a job full time and not experience gap in income while getting certified and managing their classes.”
- HR Director |
| Attract Career Changers |
|---|
| “Minority candidates who come in with Master’s or even a JD who are career changers, accountants, engineers. What can we do? Because (they don’t have an) education background they are turned away … one of my professors … has 3 Master’s degrees and a Ph.D. degree but refuses to take an exam that will determine whether or not qualified to teach at a public school. He’s offended by that. He’s willing to teach but doesn’t want to take a test that says ‘oh now you’re qualified to teach.’”
- HR Director |
Support Non-certified Staff’s Transition to Teaching
| What is Available in CT Now? | What Can CT Do Differently? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|---|
|
LEAs & RESCs hold targeted info sessions to connect paraprofessionals with EPPs and ARCs Several districts and RESCs provide partial tuition scholarships for candidates enrolling into any approved ARC; loss of state grant funding limits ability to continue support at scale |
Centralize recruitment strategy to coordinate among districts, RESCs, and ARCs Create and heavily advertise exclusive pathways for paraprofessionals and substitute teachers to participate in EPPs Continue providing scholarships to ease financial burden Provide tutoring to help prepare for EPP and certification requirements |
Transition programs for paraprofessionals support and cultivate a higher volume of teacher candidates Paraprofessionals are experienced in school settings, more likely to be from underrepresented backgrounds, and are often concentrated in shortage areas of bilingual and special education |
What we learned from interviews: Support Paraprofessionals’ Transition to Teaching
| Centralize Paraprofessional Recruitment Strategy |
|---|
| “There are so many uncertified people working in schools at various levels… they are untapped. So many of these people are people of color that have been in the community for years! All of the folks are right here - you don’t need to bring them from out of the state. They are right here.”
- EPP Professional |
| “Everyone is struggling with how to get those candidates (paraprofessionals) into the pipeline. We are all talking about alternate routes, paraprofessional educators coming in through them to become certified. As of yet, there is no single coordinated effort to have that happen.”
- RESC Professional |
Expand Certification Pathways and Increase Flexibility
| What is Available in CT Now? | What Can CT Do Differently? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|---|
|
Office of Higher Education ARC offers weekend program for candidates interested in secondary education; $2500 grants available through MTIP Teach for America CT provides 155 corps members each year, most of whom just finished college Relay Graduate School of Education is a recently approved program with a current cohort of 58 noncertified school staff. Office of Early Childhood ARC at Charter Oak offers program to candidates with 3-years experience as early childhood educator and undergraduate courses in human development |
Create more options that allow candidates to work while getting certified Create options that attract career changers Create more options that have affordable tuition:
Options to explore include:
|
ARCs, such as TFA and Relay have initiatives targeted specifically at maximizing the number of teachers of color produced by their programs The cost of traditional certification programs leads many people of color to discount teaching as a professional option. Alternative certification programs can significantly reduce the cost of becoming a teacher |
What we learned from interviews: Expand Certification Pathways and Increase Flexibility
| Attract Broader Population of Candidates |
|---|
| “Sometimes we run into barriers when attempting to recruit students from southern states into CT due to certification. Even though CT has changed/made some certification rules more flexible, we still don’t offer full reciprocity, which I do see as one of the challenges we face.”
- Ed Reform HR Director |
| “With NY right across the line, and NY, NJ, Rhode Island - the certification process does not have reciprocity with CT which makes it very difficult. We’ve done travel to HBCUs…there is a direct pipeline. The challenge is at the state level where you have to meet a certain criteria. You can’t just come without being certified in the proper manner or subject area. So that creates difficulties for those prospective candidates seeking to come here because either have to go back to school for more education or go through a process of taking an exam and waiting to see if they pass or not and get certified.”
- Ed Reform HR Director |
| “In CT, totally different issues. We have a really hard time with key content areas. [They have to be] certified which is incredibly challenging because CT has no reciprocity with anyone in the US so when we find great people then we have to talk them into taking all the steps to be certified."
- CMO HR Director |
Diversify sources and processes for finding teacher candidates
| What CT Can Prioritize? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|
|
Develop relationships with local affinity groups, sororities, fraternities Maintain a social media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and / or Facebook Provide links to easily navigable information on multiple pathways to teaching using district websites and social media platforms Expand use of sources such as employee networks, social media platforms, university career services, local affinity groups, HBCUs, and international partnerships |
Diversifying sources leads to a larger pool of applicants and can include sources that are particularly well poised to connect HR with candidates of color |
Insights from Interviews: Current sources and processes for finding teacher candidates
| Recruitment remains heavily dependent on job fairs and word of mouth. Limited use of social media as a tool
Wide-spread marketing strategies (e.g. billboard advertising) beginning to be tried in some Ed Reform Districts
“We use a digital billboard, and there are 600 media outlets to put out the word. There’s radio and social media. We are connected to Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and contacts with area organizations and outside of the state We also have a Youtube account.” – HR Director |
| Limited avenues through which to encourage candidates to apply
“It’s a matter of getting people to apply here. We haven’t found necessarily that if teachers of color are in the pool, they aren’t getting interviewed and hired. That’s not the issue for us. The issue is getting them to apply.”
- HR Director |
| Lean staffing of HR Departments impacts capacity |
Make diversity an explicit consideration in the hiring process
| What CT Can Prioritize? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|
|
Place teachers of color onto hiring committees in schools throughout CT. Encourage an institutional norm where principals interview at least one teacher of color for every open teaching position. Prioritize diverse teacher candidates over non-diverse ones, on balance. Offer subconscious bias training to all HR staff and principals. |
More diversity on hiring committees will result in more diverse candidates getting hired. More teachers of color being interviewed will result in more diverse hires. When two candidates with similar qualifications are before a principal, hiring the diverse candidate for diversity’s sake will yield more TOC. Subconscious bias training will usher more diverse candidates through the hiring process who may have otherwise been excluded from consideration. |
Insights from Interviews: Current status of diversity in the hiring process
| Teachers of color not universally represented on hiring committees within districts across CT |
| Teachers of color not universally represented on hiring committees within districts across CT |
| School hiring committees are often selecting candidates who mirror their own backgrounds instead of making diversity an explicit priority |
| Diversity viewed as a “nice to have,” not a “must have” |
|
Principals are unable to easily identify diverse candidates through AppliTrack “You have to figure it out. It has to be a focus that means a lot to you. You look for things. Sometimes someone will say “as a mixed race student” or “my family is first generation from X country.” |
| Principals with ties to diverse communities are more likely to hire diverse staff |
Target college recruitment majors with limited job prospects
| What CT Can Prioritize? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|
|
Collaborate with college career offices to identify popular majors with limited employment opportunities immediately after college graduation Align teacher shortage areas with popular majors to identify prime recruitment targets (e.g. forensic science with secondary science) Engage a wide variety of student interest groups (e.g. STEM, cultural affinity groups) in student teaching or after school programming opportunities |
Recruiting candidates of color from a broader range of majors expands the pool of eligible teaching candidates |
Insights from Interviews: Current status of recruitment of college students
| Formal partnerships with EPPs bring student teachers into classrooms |
| “We are a partnership school for UCONN which sends juniors here once a week. They come in and are assigned to cooperating teachers. As seniors, they student teach. In the master’s degree… they come back and work with group of kids and do a research project.” – Principal |
| Targeted recruitment of candidates of color may happen through informal channels |
| “Last year… because I have a good relationship with director of teaching at UCONN, I met with her in the fall and...I was really alarmed to see that they had one teacher of color... I immediately met with her in November and gave her a contract for employment in January. And we got her.” – Ed Reform District HR Director |
Cultivate candidates with supplementary supports through the hiring process
| What CT Can Prioritize? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|
|
Assign work within HR Departments such that one person stays connected to each applicant throughout their application process Develop relationships with local affinity groups, sororities, fraternities Maintain a social media presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and / or Facebook Provide links to easily navigable information on housing, EPPs, and other resources, particularly those of interest to applicants who do not currently live in the district where they have applied to teach |
Personalizing the recruitment experience can help to demystify CT to out-of-state applicants |
Insights from Interviews: Current status of candidate cultivation in the hiring process
| Formal partnerships with EPPs bring student teachers into classrooms |
| At least one district connects applicants with a local real estate agent for support in finding housing |
| “We hired 2 teachers from out of state who both came from the same state. So I connected those two together. The realtor ended up putting them in the same apartment building so they could have support even though they teach at two different schools.” - Ed Reform District HR Director |
| Need to demystify Connecticut’s attractiveness as a state |
| “From a personal perspective I’m a southerner only here due to marriage. If it weren't for that CT wouldn’t have been on my radar screen.” – Ed Reform District HR Director |
| One district is working to provide free or reduced rate housing to teachers |
| One of the initiatives allows city police and firemen to live in new housing projects for free or reduced rate. |
| [We are] trying to do this for teachers. The mayor is in favor.” – Ed Reform District HR Director |
Celebrate and acknowledge impactful teachers of color internally & externally
| What CT Can Prioritize? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|
|
Internally-facing: Recognizing accomplishments and contributions of teachers of color to a wider district/state audience can increase teacher feelings of worth and as a result, retention. Externally-facing: Highlighting personal stories about teachers of color will inspire candidates of color and provide information about what working in a CT district is going to be like. It will also demonstrate that teachers of color are valued in the district. |
Teachers of color feel greater emotional connectedness to their respective districts, increasing retention Prospective teacher candidates of color will be more likely to explore opportunities in CT because they have evidence that districts value and recognize teachers of color |
Insights from Interviews: Current status of celebrating impactful teachers of color
| Some districts proactively celebrate their TOC via social media |
| “We need to do a better job celebrating the profession outside of the teacher-of-the-year approach. Who do we think are our best teachers and have we ever tell those people we think they are awesome?” -HR Director |
| 2016 national teacher of the year is a CT teacher of color |
| Teachers are acknowledged for taking on formal and informal leadership roles within schools |
| Teachers are often only recognized for increasing student test scores; other feats should be celebrated |
| “You might look at test scores and assume one thing, but the teacher is doing really amazing things at the school and is not being recognized.” - CT Teacher |
Implement employee referral programs
| What CT Can Prioritize? | Diversity Benefit |
|---|---|
|
Encourage all LEAs and CMOs to view the networks of current employees as ripe for new hires Advertise referral programs widely and frequently to staff Create quick, seamless hand-offs of referred person from the employee to the HR department for follow up Let employees know if someone they refer has been hired Where new hire announcements are made, indicate those that are the result of an employee referral Where possible, provide an incentive to employees to refer candidates |
Schools with diverse staff and maximize existing employees as a resource in the hiring process without incurring signification cost |
Insights from Interviews: Current status of employee referral programs
| Expands the breadth of contacts available to HR without significant cost |
| “We want to find teachers like the ones we have and want candidates who know something about the schools. And [referrals are] such a lower cost way because we don’t have to travel to a job fair..” – CMO HR director |
| Increases access to and successful recruitment of candidates of color |
| “[An]other source is our referral program. Referrals overall are our biggest source for hires and for teachers who share background of students. For teachers who share the background [of our students] 50% come from referrals.” - CMO HR director |
| Desire to implement in tradition public schools |
| “It’s striking that we haven’t formalized word of mouth. So I’m thinking of bold moves when we think of hiring bonuses. If you bring somebody in the district, we [should] look at a financial incentive.” – Ed Reform District HR Director |