Teaching for Diversity

Teaching for Diversity - Six Policy Considerations

Education policy- and decisionmakers should:

Examine state context of diversity
Analyze context of teacher preparation programs
- Are issues of diversity integrated throughout teacher education curriculum?
- What weighting does accreditation process give to diversity?
- Do faculty receive incentives for encouraging diversity?
- Is the faculty linguistically, ethnically, or racially diverse?
Increase pool of candidates for teacher education
- Improve high school graduation rates for students of color
- Widen the pool
Recruit and admit students of color into teacher education
- Offer financial incentives, e.g., tuition waivers, stipends, loans
- Provide competitive salaries and working conditions in schools
- Review admissions criteria for attention given to multicultural experiences
- Consider high quality non-traditional entry programs
Retain candidates in teacher education
- Create a college community
- Offer support services through graduation
- Increase number of minority faculty members or other role models
Admit students of color into the teaching profession
- Review state certification requirements
- Consider high quality alternative certification programs