Public education is awash in efforts to accelerate the connection of young people with career pathways in high school. All across the country, school systems are partnering with the private sector, higher ed., and community partners to create sophisticated, career-connected learning experiences. Children in middle school and even younger are increasingly exposed to the world of work and potential careers.
One profession often conspicuously absent in this rush to bolster career and technical education pathways is teaching. It’s a missed opportunity, especially amid efforts to diversify the teaching workforce.
It is stunning to see that, in many places, teachers are only recently being recognized as a critical part of America’s workforce—despite being one of the largest employment sectors, with some 8 million people working in elementary and secondary schools across the country!
In this biweekly column, principals and other authorities on school leadership—including researchers, education professors, district administrators, and assistant principals—offer timely and timeless advice for their peers.
Addressing the discrete and enduring teaching shortages faced by many cities and rural areas would be reason enough to embrace a CTE-style approach. Districts are struggling to fill teaching positions, particularly in low-income communities, as well as high-need areas such as special education, dual language, math, and science. By integrating teacher education into CTE programs, we can start to address this shortage.
CTE programs have been proved to be effective in not only preparing students for the workforce but ensuring high school completion. Students who participate in CTE programs have higher graduation rates and are more likely to enroll in postsecondary education, according to a recent study from the Institute of Education Sciences. By applying this successful model to teacher education, we can ensure that students are not only prepared to enter the teaching profession but are also equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
At the same time, thoughtfully designed programs can create a pipeline of diverse, well-prepared teachers who are ready to step into classrooms and make a difference.
Often, school leaders sit like baby birds awaiting mommy bird (human resources) to send them diverse teachers. They lament teacher colleges for not preparing the effective teachers they need. Meanwhile, they are oblivious to the critical role they could play in developing the entry points for an effective teacher pipeline.
When I was growing up as a Black boy in Philadelphia, society eagerly funneled boys like me into sports and music. The available CTE opportunities—such as cooking or auto mechanics—didn’t appeal to me, but I would have been interested in exploring a career in teaching while in high school.
Schools weren’t safe havens or places of inspiration for many Black and brown children like me; they were underresourced and overpoliced. It’s no wonder why Black men make up less than 2 percent of the teaching population. This absence of Black teachers in schools is not just a missed opportunity for representation. It is a critical gap that hinders the academic and social-emotional development of students.
My own perspective on teaching didn’t shift until after college, when my mentor, Martin Ryder, extended an invitation for me and other young Black men to consider a career in education. That invitation was life-changing—not just for me but for the scores of students I would eventually teach. Sometimes, all it takes to unlock a passion hidden beneath layers of societal expectation and institutional neglect is an invitation.
We need Black teachers, and the least we can do is to support students in exploring becoming one—early. That is why creating a welcoming entry to teaching in high school with the same seriousness and structure as other CTE pathways could be a game changer.
Just as we have programs that expose students to careers in health care, engineering, and the trades, we need robust programs that introduce students—especially those from underrepresented communities—to the teaching profession. Being a student for 13 years, isnt enough.
Teaching pathways like “grow your own” and apprenticeship models are not just innovative, they can be essential tools for continuing to diversify the teaching profession. They represent the continuation of a proud tradition in the Black community: the tradition of Black educators bringing the next generation into the transformative work of teaching.
For example, educators at Science Leadership Academy, a magnet high school in Philadelphia, have partnered with my organization, the Center for Black Educator Development, to provide high school students with early exposure and clinical experiences. These students take CTE courses that expose them to Black pedagogical frameworks, Black teaching traditions, and education through a Black historical lens. They explore how Black educational and behavioral theorists, child psychologists, educators, and communities have engaged in teaching and learning. They use their knowledge and apply it in their clinical experiences.
Since launching this teacher pathway program in 2020, we have seen how participating students’ interest in teaching increases as they identify teaching as a pathway to educational and racial justice.
School leaders can reshape teacher preparation by creating teaching pathways in high school, including through robust career-connected learning and on-the-job experience. Such exposure to real-world work demystifies the teaching profession, allows students to see the impact they can have as teachers, and positions them for greater success in postsecondary teacher-preparation programs and beyond. So many skills that are critical in teaching—communication, empathy, leadership—are developed over time and with practice.
By exposing students to the teaching profession early, we can help them develop these skills, while at the same time building a personal understanding of what it means to be an educator.
As a Black male educator who understands the essential experience of being seen, heard, and welcomed into the profession, I see the creation of teaching pathways in high school as a natural extension of the historical Black educator tradition of bringing our young people into the revolutionary work of teaching Black children well. This tradition recognizes that teaching is not just a job; it is a calling, one that requires passion, dedication, expertise, and a deep commitment to social justice.
Creating avenues to pursue this noble tradition in high school can ensure that the next generation of teachers better reflects the diversity of our student population and is prepared to meet the challenges of the 21st-century classroom. By doing so, we’ll ensure that teaching is a career option that welcomes all young people.
