Within Connecticut’s public school system, non-white teachers represent only a small fraction of educators, even though those institutions serve diverse populations. According to the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE), while 48% of Connecticut public school students identify as people of color, only 9.6% of the state’s educators do the same. This disparity has led to the establishment of the Teacher Residency Program (TRP), an initiative run by Regional Educational Service Centers (RESCs) located in Hamden, Hartford, Old Lyme, and Trumbull.
The TRP provides college graduates of color an alternative route to receiving a teacher certification for elementary school education. Traditionally, the state of Connecticut requires public school teachers to have a teacher certification, a license often obtained as part of their bachelor’s or master’s degree. TRP residents, however, are able to obtain their certification through a condensed program that includes 18 months of coursework, professional-development workshops, and a year of residency training with an assigned mentor teacher. Graduates of the program commit to a classroom teaching position in a partnered elementary school for three years.
Approved by the CSDE in May of 2019, the TRP is nearing the end of its second year and has partnered with school districts that include East Lyme, Norwich, and Groton. “Working adults may not have the resources or time to return to school to take a traditional route to teacher certification due to family or financial commitments,” said Ms. Laurie LePine, Director of Human Resources at Groton Public Schools. “By allowing these programs to advance, we can get motivated individuals of color into our workforce and create future teachers.”
Although the program, which is estimated to cost around $4.4 million next year, requires that school districts help out with funding through their own budgets, Ms. LePine says that it was a “no-brainer” for the Groton School District to opt into the program. She said, “Participation in the program directly aligns to our DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] plans and initiatives in our school district. Our diverse students need to see teachers and role models who look like them and whom they can relate to culturally.” In the 2021-2022 academic year, the Groton School District will work with two participants in the TRP.
Diversifying the state’s teacher workforce will allow more students to learn from individuals who, in many ways, share their life experiences. Connecticut’s students of color need “educators of colors who are role models for them,” said Director of the TRP Ms. Marlene Megos.
Ms. Megos believes that a critical piece in making institutions anti-racist is to hire a diverse staff. “One of the challenges that we are facing right now is systemic racism in our schools. If all of our teachers and most of our administrators are white, it’s hard to really identify and grasp different ways of doing things,” she said.
Increased diversity in schools will also better reflect the environment that students will encounter later in life. “Our teacher communities are mostly white, yet when you look out in the broader community — when you go to college, when you move to a different city or area of the nation — people are more diverse than that,” said Ms. Megos. “Having a diverse workforce allows us to have diversity in perspectives, [which] students would gain based on the differences that each of our teachers [bring] to the table.”
Teachers will also benefit from working with a diverse set of colleagues. “When various perspectives are brought to the table, it allows us to be more creative and utilize others’ perspectives to solve problems, address students’ needs, and creatively teach our students,” said Ms. Megos.
With the collective efforts of school districts, RESCs, and sponsors, the TRP is now focusing on expanding its reach and recruiting its third cohort of program residents, with applications due in March.
“I hope to see a diverse workforce in our schools and inclusive, welcoming environments for people of color to not only attend our schools but to work within them,” said Ms. Megos. “Ultimately, I want this program to be so successful that we don’t need to do this work anymore, that our staff and educators in Connecticut are just as diverse as our student population.”
