College & Workforce Readiness

Can Minority-Serving Colleges Help Create a More-Diverse Teaching Force?

By Madeline Will — September 19, 2017 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A disproportionate percentage of nonwhite teachers are prepared at schools that make up just 13 percent of all the teacher-preparation programs in the United States: minority-serving institutions.

That statistic should make the schools of education at minority-serving institutions, or MSIs—a term that encompasses historically black colleges and universities and other schools that serve predominately nonwhite populations—a major player in efforts to increase teacher diversity, educators say.

Only 20 percent of public school teachers are nonwhite, compared with over 50 percent of public school students. Thus, improving teacher diversity has been a growing area of national concern, with some states and districts also pledging to tackle the issue head on.

Yet the role of MSIs in contributing to a more-diverse teaching corps has largely been absent from the conversation, some educators and advocates say.

“The interesting thing is that 40 percent of students of color are educated at MSIs,” said Marybeth Gasman, a professor of education at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions. “They are educating an enormous amount of people who could potentially be teachers. ... If we’re not looking at them [as a solution], we really don’t want to solve this problem.”

To strengthen and grow these programs, the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity has emerged as a hub for MSIs to connect, share resources, and receive support.

The initiative, called BranchED, officially began late last month, but it had been working with schools for about a year now. Over the past 14 months, the group has worked with 36 institutions, said Cassandra Herring, the founder, president, and CEO.

There are 253 MSIs with schools of education. While Herring doesn’t expect every school to be interested in joining the network, she said early demand has far exceeded projections.

BranchED has three goals: empower MSIs through coaching, break down silos by connecting schools to each other and to other resources, and elevate the voices of the programs.

‘High Intensity’ Coaching

“This is not a status-quo initiative,” said Herring, who was formerly the dean of the education school at Hampton University, a historically black school in Virginia.

BranchED plans to launch an intensive coaching model, which Herring hopes to implement within the next year (although two colleges already received prototype coaching).

Coaches, who are familiar with MSIs and have expertise working with data, will assist a participating college conduct a self-assessment to develop and help execute an improvement plan. It will be a three-year “high intensity, high resource” commitment, and it will not be the model for every MSI in the alliance, Herring said.

Many MSIs, which prioritize serving low-income students, have historically been underfunded, Gasman said, creating challenges.

Enrollment in many teacher-preparation programs has declined in recent years, and Herring said MSIs are not immune. Some MSIs also have a real need for faculty development to enhance their practice, she said, and many struggle with making sure enough of their students pass a teacher-licensure exam upon graduation.

Reasons for those challenges differ for every institution, she added, making it critical for coaches to do a diagnostic assessment for participating programs.

At Huston-Tillotson University, the small private HBCU in Austin, Texas, that houses BranchED, officials are most excited for coaches to help evaluate their programs through long-term data analysis.

“Are we doing the best that we can for our teachers, our preservice teachers, so that we aren’t spending time doing things that don’t really make a difference in the classroom?” said Ruth Kane, the chairwoman of the department of educator preparation.

Eric Budd, HTU’s associate provost, said BranchED has already helped the department go deeper in examining its student data, including intern and student-teacher ratings, and assessments that students take, to make sure everyone is on track to become a qualified, certified teacher.

“The organization has given us some knowledge that empowers us,” he said.

Boosting Students’ Confidence

BranchED is also building partnerships with nonprofits, K-12 districts, and other universities.

“BranchED isn’t just about MSIs, it’s about creating highly effective, diverse educators through partnerships that really move that goal further,” Herring said.

Nationwide, 9 percent of teachers are Hispanic, 7 percent are black, and 2 percent are Asian.

MSIs are a valuable pipeline for those teachers, said Larry Walker, an education consultant and a former teacher. He studied elementary education at Cheyney University, a Pennsylvania HBCU.

He said of his experience at an HBCU: “I felt valued and I think that’s really important, particularly in education, where there are not a lot of [black] males.” Walker went on to teach in a school where he was the only black man.

“I think attending an HBCU prepared me for an environment like that,” he said. “When you leave, you not only [understand] content, but you also have self-confidence.”

A 2015 Gallup poll found that black U.S. college graduates who attended an HBCU are more likely than black graduates of other institutions to be thriving in several areas of their life, including liking what they do each day and being motivated to achieve their goals. That foundation may be especially important for aspiring black teachers since studies suggest that nonwhite teachers generally have higher attrition rates than white teachers, MSI officials said.

“We really are important factors in the diversity of the education system,” Budd said.

Coverage of policy efforts to improve the teaching profession is supported by a grant from the Joyce Foundation, atwww.joycefdn.org/Programs/Education. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the September 20, 2017 edition of Education Week as Can Minority-Serving Colleges Diversify K-12 Teaching?

Events

Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Boosting Student and Staff Mental Health: What Schools Can Do
Join this free virtual event based on recent reporting on student and staff mental health challenges and how schools have responded.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Curriculum Webinar
Practical Methods for Integrating Computer Science into Core Curriculum
Dive into insights on integrating computer science into core curricula with expert tips and practical strategies to empower students at every grade level.
Content provided by Learning.com

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness What the Research Says Beyond the Carnegie Unit: Schools Are Already Testing Ways to Measure 'Durable' Skills
If you want students to learn to collaborate, organize, be creative, and communicate, you have to measure it.
6 min read
Up close photo of report card grades.
E+ / Getty
College & Workforce Readiness Should Students Sign Up for AP or Dual Enrollment? What Readers Think
EdWeek readers share their take on the debate over pathways to earning college credit in high school.
4 min read
Educators at the College Board's AP annual conference learn about various AP program offerings intended to address access and equity to advanced coursework for underrepresented students in Seattle, Wash. on July 20, 2023.
Educators at the College Board's AP annual conference learn about various AP program offerings intended to address access and equity to advanced coursework for underrepresented students in Seattle, Wash. on July 20, 2023.
Ileana Najarro/Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Parents Value 'Workforce Development.' Here's How to Get Their Support for CTE
The ways in which schools and policymakers talk about career and technical education influences parents' support for it.
4 min read
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Students make measurements to wood to add to a tiny home project during their shop class at Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Dec. 13, 2022.
Nate Smallwood for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Q&A Common App Will Offer Some Students Direct College Admission. Its CEO Explains
A new program aimed at motivating more first-generation, low-income students to go to college launches this month.
7 min read
Illustration of a college building and diverse students.
Collage via iStock/Getty