While Indy Public Schools has rightfully identified that their teachers don't look like their students, this problem will not be easy to mend. In order to encourage more people of color to become educators, schools must figure out ways of working with current parents to instill an appreciation and an associated value in education in minority populations. The divisive history surrounding separate but "equal" has gotten us here, but to get more quality educators of color, we must fix the perception / value gap in order to get the minority students of today to be the educators of tomorrow.
WHAT IF:
A strong partnership between urban school districts and the State could focus on hiring non-licensed classroom assistants (focused on individuals who were successful in high school, but did not enroll / complete college) in conjunction with a state accredited online college could create a cohort of eligible urban teaching professionals who have real-life classroom experience on day 1 of becoming a licensed teacher. In the short term, this cohort will provide the immediate benefit of having educational staff that better represent the backgrounds of the students they are supporting.
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