A Natural Fit: Supporting After-School Staff of Color in Teacher Pipelines

The need to provide a strong and diverse teacher workforce for all students is particularly relevant now as school…

July 21, 2021 by Lina Cherfas, Eric Duncan, J.D., Wing Yi (Winnie) Chan

The need to provide a strong and diverse teacher workforce for all students is particularly relevant now as school and district leaders are developing plans to address unfinished learning and help students catch up after the disruptions due to COVID-19. Yet, only 20% of teachers in the U.S. are teachers of color. Moreover, the lack of diversity of the teacher workforce relative to the student population (more than half of all students in the national public school population identify as a person of color) is one of the key drivers of inequity in education, even as states and districts continue to invest in strategies to increase the racial diversity of their workforces.

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One underutilized strategy for increasing the racial diversity of the teacher workforce is to recruit and prepare those who have experience working in after-school or out-of-school time (OST) programs to enter the teaching profession. The after-school/ OST staff population is racially and ethnically diverse and has the meaningful experiences, e.g., leading groups of young people, and the commitment to support students and families in local communities across the country. However, very few states and districts invest in specific programming dedicated to recruiting and preparing this population to become full-time teachers, and few teacher preparation programs focus directly on this population to leverage their experiences to create a strong and diverse workforce. This is a missed opportunity.

Our report, A Natural Fit: Supporting After-School Staff of Color in Teacher Pipelines, examines the experiences of current and former teacher candidates of color with after-school or OST experience to provide insights into how teacher preparation programs and state policymakers can create the right programmatic experiences and conditions to recruit after-school/OST staff into the teaching profession and prepare them for success.

We focus specifically on the experiences of candidates in what are considered non-traditional preparation pathways, such as teacher residencies and Grow Your Own programs. These programs tend to attract and retain a more diverse pool of teachers, with deeper connections to local school communities than traditional teacher education pathways.

State policymakers, as well as those leading teacher preparation programs, have an opportunity to invest in strategies and adopt policies to build this potentially high-leverage pipeline of teachers of color into the profession. To do so effectively, they must not only increase targeted recruitment of after-school/OST staff but also structure programming to draw upon this group’s experiences while they’re enrolled in preparation programs.

IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE POLICY

After-school/OST workers are a promising source of effective, diverse teachers with strong ties to their school communities and a clear commitment to students. While more research is needed, we recommend that states do the following to support and promote the recruitment, preparation, hiring, and retention of after-school/OST staff as teachers.

Allocate resources to establish and strengthen recruitment relationships between nontraditional teacher preparation programs and after-school/OST service providers.
- For example, states can invest in competitive grant opportunities to fund pipeline partnerships between non-traditional teacher preparation programs and after-school/OST programs. States can also create guidance on practices to strengthen these recruitment relationships, including Grow Your Own programming practices that are effective in creating a strong pipeline of after-school/OST staff into the profession.
Increase investments in scholarships, loan forgiveness opportunities, and tuition reimbursements for teacher candidates with after-school/OST experience, with a particular focus on candidates of color and participants in Grow Your Own programs.
- Loan forgiveness and reimbursement programs should be tied to teaching for several years and/or in high-needs schools. Loan forgiveness, reimbursement, and scholarship opportunities should be intentionally advertised in after-school/OST settings.
Adopt statewide guidelines and invest in supports for nontraditional teacher preparation pathways that include teacher licensure test preparation, and at least one year of mentor teacher support and coaching before participants enter the classroom as teachers of record.
- This practice is sought out by prospective participants and supports the recruitment and retention of teacher candidates.
Develop guidance on effective programming and practices, based on nontraditional teacher preparation pathways that successfully attract and support after-school/OST staff of color.
- This should include anti-racist pedagogy as a central approach throughout the program and meaningful supports for participants of color that address the specific issues they are likely to encounter as educators. This should also include efforts to incorporate and discuss after-school/OST workers’ experiences and skills, particularly when it comes to classroom community building and establishing relationships with students.
Include after-school/OST candidates in the paraprofessional category when defining participants who are eligible for state-led support to obtain teaching certification.
Fund retention supports for alumni of nontraditional teacher preparation programs, including efforts to create and sustain affinity groups and professional learning opportunities.
- This can be done by making retention support for alumni a requirement for competitive grant funding to strengthen partnerships between districts and non-traditional teacher preparation pathways. This can also be achieved by increasing funding to current preparation pathways to develop robust alumni programming.
Require nontraditional teacher preparation pathways to track and report on individuals with after-school/OST work experience as a differentiated group to begin developing an evidence base on this underexplored population of teacher trainees and learning how else they can be supported in their journeys to become teachers.

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