The proportion of minority teachers at independent schools in the Midwest falls significantly below the proportion of minority students enrolled in those schools, according to a recent survey by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States.
In surveying 84 of its member institutions, the association found that minority-group students make up 12.5 percent of total enrollment (6.4 percent black, 5 percent Asian American, 0.9 percent Hispanic, and 0.2 percent American Indian), while only 3.1 percent of faculty members are members of minority groups.
“It seems clear that a major priority for schools should be to work toward a faculty diversity that is at least typical of its enrollment,” officials wrote in a recent issue of the association’s newsletter.
The newsletter reminded members of a program to identify promising minority candidates for faculty positions in independent schools.
The two-year-old program was established by the National Association of Independent Schools, Independent Educational Services, and A Better Chance Inc.
For more information, contact ies, 80 Nassau St., Princeton, N.J. 08540; (609) 921-6195.
A cooperative venture between public and private schools and local businesses will allow 52 Connecticut high-school students to attend a five-week, tuition-free seminar on mathematics, computers, and science this summer.
The program is sponsored jointly by the Connecticut Association of Urban Superintendents and Choate Rosemary Hall, a private boarding school in Wallingford, Conn.; it will be supported by funds from Choate Rosemary Hall, Connecticut corporate and financial institutions, and foundation grants.
The 52 “Connecticut Scholars” will be chosen from urban public high schools in the state by faculty committees in the schools, using demonstrated ability and motivation in the study of mathematics and science as the criteria for selection.
The students will live on the Choate Rosemary Hall campus during the seminar and will participate in the school’s summer enrichment program, which enrolls students from all over the world.
The venture was also designed to create an opportunity for teachers to develop new professional relationships. Teachers from public schools in the state will team-teach with faculty members from Choate.
Blair Academy has been awarded a $1-million challenge grant by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.
The terms of the grant require Blair Academy, an independent coeducational secondary school in Blairstown, N.J., to raise $2 million in matching funds by December 1985 for the school’s endowment.
The Kenan trust has embarked on a program to make major grants to selected independent colleges and secondary schools.--cc
