As part of its Black Educators Initiative (BEI), the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) has awarded a $152,973 grant to Clarkson University as an NCTR Network Residency partner for the 2021-2022 academic year. This is the second consecutive year in which Clarkson has received BEI funding.
NCTR launched its Black Educators Initiative (BEI) in 2019 to support Network Residency partners in improving the recruitment, development, and retention of Black educators, with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes.
Clarkson’s Master of Arts in Teaching full-year residency program supports Black teacher candidates with Tomorrow’s Teachers Today scholarships, mentoring, living stipends, affinity groups, emergency funds, and tutors. Grant recipients also earn the title of Fellow in the Black Educators Initiative program.
Participants also have the option to participate in Clarkson’s Income Shared Agreement, which allows successful candidates to defer up to $12,000 in tuition and living expenses until they are employed as a teacher.
“Our nation has an urgent and pressing challenge: Black students who have just one Black teacher are more likely to graduate from high school and consider going to college, yet just seven percent of teachers are Black,” says Clarkson Department of Education Chair Catherine Snyder.
“New York State’s Capital Region is significantly behind the rest of the country and state in hiring historically underrepresented teachers,” she adds. “In 2017, 20 percent of the teaching force was represented by teachers of color nationwide. In the same year, New York State reported that 16 percent of its teaching force was made up of teachers of color. In the same year, teachers of color in Capital Region schools only made up 2.8 percent of the teaching force.”
“We are excited to continue to support our residency partners in their efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain Black residents through the BEI,” says NCTR CEO Anissa Listak. “Focusing the work of residencies on teachers of color, and in particular Black teachers, is a core part of NCTR’s mission to ensure that students of color and low-income students have equitable access to diverse and culturally responsive educators.”
Thus far, investments in Black residents through the BEI have resulted in:
- Reducing barriers for aspiring Black educators to enter and remain in the profession
- Supporting recruitment pipelines that reflect the communities of color predominately served in Title I schools
- Supporting mentor teachers to provide rigorous clinical preparation and coaching and
- Supporting programs to redesign and implement research-based practices that improve the recruitment, selection, preparation, and support experiences of Black educators.
In year three of the BEI, NCTR has increased the number of grantees this year to 20, the largest number to date, with six new residency programs. BEI is made possible by a grant from the Ballmer Group.
For more information about the Black Educators Initiative at Clarkson, email graduate@clarkson.edu.
