By GREGORY ZELLER //
The SUNY Old Westbury School of Education has joined a unique national program working to bring diversity into the classroom.
The Georgia-based Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity has selected SUNY Old Westbury and its “district partner,” the Hempstead Union Free School District, for participation in the fifth cohort of BranchED’s National Teacher Preparation Transformation Center.
The SUNY school, the Hempstead district and upstate Dobbs Ferry-based Mercy University will now embark on a three-year effort – supported by a $300,000 BranchED grant – to diversify the teaching profession by directly addressing critical education-equity issues.
Participating higher-education institutions and their district partners can access “enhanced resources and professional development” for current and future teachers, according to SUNY Old Westbury, with hands-on learning, networking and data-sharing shepherding them toward sustainable classroom innovation.
Diana Sukhram: Multicultural mission.
BranchED’s focus is exclusively on government-designated Minority Serving Institutions. In short, students of color must comprise 50 percent or more of undergraduate or graduate enrollment for high-ed institutions to qualify, while district partners must have student populations that are at least 75 percent students of color.
While public K-12 systems are the ultimate focus, the NTPTC strengthens collaborations between those systems and nearby colleges on a quest to pack regional new-educator pipelines with “more qualified, diverse candidates,” according to SUNY Old Westbury School of Education Dean Diana Sukhram.
“We are excited to be part of this program as we work to continuously improve our programs, strengthen our partnership with Hempstead Schools (and) develop the next generation of teachers to serve the increasingly multicultural student populations across the region,” Sukhram said Wednesday.
BranchED offers a variety of professional learning experiences and resources through a wide selection of Educator Preparation Programs, including in-person summits, online institutes and various collaborative efforts.
The challenge is significant: According to the Georgia-based nonprofit, more than 40 percent of U.S. public schools do not have a single teacher of color on staff – even though, based on 2021 numbers collated by Education Week, only 45.2 percent of all U.S. public school students are White.
Teacher populations assessed by the National Center for Education Statistics are equally skewed: As of the 2017-2018 school year, 79 percent of U.S. public-school teachers were White and non-Hispanic; 9 percent were Hispanic (of any Hispanic race); 7 percent were Black and non-Hispanic; and 2 percent were Asian and non-Hispanic.
These are enormous challenges to overcome, noted BranchED Founder, President and CEO Cassandra Herring, who launched the first National Teacher Preparation Transformation Center cohort in 2018.
And it’s an especially important issue in New York State, according to Herring.
Minority report: Although U.S. K-12 students are increasingly non-White, roughly 80 percent of all K-12 teachers nationwide are White. (Source: National Center for Education Statistics)
“The Empire State is home to one of the most diverse student populations in the country, but only 23 percent of New York teachers are teachers of color,” the founder said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with [SUNY Old Westbury and Mercy University] to implement high-quality preparation for teachers who will serve the unique needs of all of the state’s students.”
Participation in the latest cohort will not only develop a stronger teacher-candidate pipeline, according to Hempstead Union Free School District Superintendent Regina Armstrong, but will improve the perspective of teachers already working in the district.
“We are excited to collaborate with BranchEd to foster diversity and excellence in education for our students,” Armstrong added. “We know that the program will have a positive impact on our school community.”
