Overview:
What if we used students who want to become teachers?
Imagine the student who always said they wanted to be a teacher. Now imagine this same student was not only encouraged from an early age but also provided opportunities to cultivate the skills necessary to become a teacher. Then, take it a step further and actually imagine putting our money where our mouth was as far as financing this novel idea. Could we change the narrative and actually create a classroom-to-classroom pipeline to recruit more teachers?
A truly sustainable teacher pipeline
There have been so many discussions about how to change who is actually teaching in front of the classroom. According to a national survey, about 7 percent of teachers are Black, and about 9% are Hispanic. A 2020-2021 national survey cites the number of Black Males in the classroom as less than 2 percent. The lack of Black and Brown educators, let alone male educators in general, has been documented almost as much as the teacher shortage across America in the last several years.
This conversation about how to shift this data has been going on for years. But did anyone ever think about changing who is in the class by looking at the classroom itself? As we consider the focus on (and continual fights against) social justice in the classrooms, would those who understand the importance of having our students be critical thinkers actually look to their children as ones who might grow up and become the change makers they so long to see in front of their classrooms?
Many existing “buddy programs” exist where fifth or sixth graders are already tutoring and mentoring kindergartners. Many of these students stand out as ones we think are “naturals” with the way that they mentor their tutees. How many of these students continually volunteer to take on more and more younger students or seem to look forward to these tutoring sessions more than others? How many times have we said, now that kid would make a great teacher!
Encouraging the Pipeline
I know firsthand how important it is to encourage those who might be interested in entering the world of education. A former student who was a member of our school band, choir, and multiple clubs was a student trustee on the school board and held two jobs. I immediately noticed his drive and ambition during our initial one-on-one meeting to discuss his future goals. When he told me he wanted to become a teacher, I jumped at the chance to join others in his life to support his future career path.
“An aunt of mine is a teacher herself, and she was one of my biggest supporters when I told her what I wanted to do. She taught secondary Special [Education] and gave me advice on options for college to become a teacher.”
My alumni, a Hispanic male, is currently on his way to becoming a music teacher. This is one of the many students I hope to inspire to enter the teaching profession. We need to look to our classrooms to find more potential educators.
A real problem and a clear solution
The record decline of those entering both traditional and alternative teacher credential programs speaks to a systemic issue that not only threatens a seemingly unrecoverable chasm in the teacher pipeline but one that has provided little to no answer to the lack of recruitment and retention of Black and Brown teachers. There are already a few examples of high schools that have begun to offer Child Development Courses and some college scholarships for Black and Brown teachers entering into education, but what would happen if we identified, nurtured, mentored, and provided internships and scholarships for Black and Brown students as early as elementary school?
Invest in Career Technical Education Pathways
Of course, this would require districts to invest financially in these students. One way to fund such an initiative would be to utilize our current Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways. These can begin by modeling programs after established Teacher Cadet programs that are already established in other parts of the country. The biggest difference is that instead of waiting until high school, a classroom-to-classroom pipeline into teacher education should begin by identifying students in elementary school and providing them with mentoring and cultivation early on. Students who enter and succeed in this pipeline would receive scholarships to teacher credential programs.
We cannot expect any student to consider entering the world of education unless we find ways to make it financially appealing. The promise of a full scholarship for undergraduate and credential programs, a paid internship, and mentoring that continues past the first year of teaching may seem like a pie-in-the-sky idea, albeit an expensive dream. But if this investment would create a “home-grown” classroom-to-classroom pipeline for districts to recruit and retain teachers, is it not worth it? How else do we plan to increase, maintain, and sustain those entering the teaching profession, knowing we have seen an unprecedented exodus in this post-Covid era?
We need more Black and Brown Teachers
As a teacher who advocates for student voices, I listen to my Black and Brown students, communicating their desire to see more teachers who look like them, who share their experiences, and who understand them on a different level. As a parent, I look at my beautiful, Black, neurodiverse nine-year-old son and wonder if he will ever have a teacher who looks like him throughout his educational career. A classroom-to-classroom pipeline that looks at the students in the classroom would make an increase in Black and Brown teachers a more attainable reality.
Sharif El-Mekki, CEO of The Center for Black Educator Development, advocates for the same cultivation of Black and Brown students. He advises, “[We need to] Recognize that the Black boys sitting in your classrooms today are the Black men leading your classrooms tomorrow. Too often, we’re not seeing Black boys as potential educators in the first place. I myself was well out of college before a soon-to-be mentor, Martin Ryder, persuaded me and a cohort of Black men to pursue a career in teaching”. Imagine if someone had seen the potential in El-Mekki as early as elementary school.
Conclusion
Like many teachers, I see so many of my students and think to myself, this kid would make an incredible teacher! Why would we not make a conscious effort to encourage more students to enter the teaching profession?
“What if, when we saw a Black boy, instead of putting a basketball or detention slip in his hand, we took his hand and invited him toward a career in teaching?”
Sharif El-Mekki
The answer to recruiting teachers post-COVID could be as simple as looking to the students in the very classrooms we are so desperately trying to find people to teach in the future. A classroom-to-classroom pipeline could be “uncovered from where it’s often hiding in plain sight,” literally right from inside the classrooms we teach.
It’s just a matter of whether or not we are willing to make the financial investment into such a seemingly simple idea, or will we continue to give lip service to how much we need more people to enter the teaching profession? We can’t continue to ask for solutions when we are unwilling to try the ones offered.
“You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it”.
Albert Einstein
A classroom-to-classroom teacher pipeline would solve multiple problems in teacher retention. Let’s shake up the current delusional mindset that people are going to magically decide to enter the teaching profession again without any new strategies to make that dream become a reality and try something different for once. What do we have to lose?
