In the interest of keeping you informed of the range and depth of commitment of your colleagues, I write today to make you aware of our recent involvement in equity and related work. In addition to the daily activities in which all of us reflect our shared commitments to social justice, equity, and inclusion; the pace of our college-wide work has hastened considerably as we close this academic year.
For example, I am at the National Summit on Teacher Diversity today (see photo), Friday, May 6, 2016 at the United States Department of Education. The purpose of this convening was given in the invitation as, “You have been nominated by an individual or organization because of your interest in or ability to contribute to a nationwide effort to address the lack of diversity in our teaching force…” The meeting is being hosted by our newly appointed US Secretary of Education, John King. On a personal level, it was a pleasure to see friends and colleagues from the African American community of Atlanta, and see luminaries again such as Marian Wright Edelman, all of whom have dedicated their lives to this work.
The panel of five students, when asked by Dr. King how universities should be training teachers, gave the following advice, “teachers should encourage students that they can do anything, teach students to believe in themselves, see us as people, inspire students, be available to students, they must be “human”, be ready to teach in urban schools, be honest and open, it’s easier to learn when you “keep it real” with your students, and be comfortable enough to teach in the classroom.” Overall, strong relationships with students were the focus of student remarks.
Other data presented included; Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which constitute 3% of American universities, nevertheless train 50% of African American teachers. Two Hispanic Serving Institutions prepare 90% of Hispanic teachers. Additional funding for minority serving institutions was called for by two speakers.
This morning, the Department of Education released a new data report at www.ed.gov entitled, “The State of Racial Diversity in the Teacher Workforce”. Some data points from the report shared by speakers included investigation of the teacher pipeline.
- University enrollment – 62% of Bachelor’s students in US are white.
- Enrollment in ED programs – 73% of education majors are white students.
- Post-secondary completion – African American students have a lower graduation rate in education majors than other fields of study.
- Alternative prep students are more diverse but they constitute only 10% of the entire teacher pipeline.
- Who’s getting hired? – 78% of new teachers are white.
- Teacher retention – 85% of white teachers stayed in the same schools, the highest retention rate of all ethnicities.
I was pleased to learn that Kent McIntosh will be meeting with secretary King in a couple of weeks. He will be presenting the results of their equity work, including outcomes from his and his colleagues’ equity research in Portland.
The State of Oregon is simultaneously engaged in efforts to diversify the teaching workforce such as the institution of the Educator Equity Advisory group of the Chief Education Office. Among many initiatives, I served on the planning committee for the Educator Equity Conference held at Parkrose Middle School on Friday, April 15. The invitees included representatives from the 30 poorest school districts in Oregon, and from our college included Nancy Golden, Julie Heffernan, Lillian Duran, Krista Chronister, Dianna Carrizales-Engelmann, and Sylvia Linan Thompson (See photos attached). I will forward the outcomes from this conference to you as soon as they are available. Governor Brown lent her support by offering opening remarks (See photo).
The evening before, April 14, we held the joint College of Education and School of Journalism conference on giving voice to educators and students. The panel of journalists and educators produced a rich dialogue that provided insights into the relationship between teachers, teaching, and the media. Ed Madison, conference organizer, did an outstanding job of working with Lisa Fortin to bring educators together to interact with journalists for OPB, KATU TV, and the Oregonian (See photo of the educator and journalist panel).
Dale Russakoff of the Washington Post gave an engaging account of the Newark NJ school’s reform effort and associated expenditure of $1 Billion by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in support. Her New York Times bestselling account, “The Prize,” documents the many false starts and unexpected outcomes, and provides insights about how such efforts might be conducted to greater effect. The student panel was riveting. Student journalists from Grant High School and our own Springfield High School, gave compelling witness to the value of involving students in all aspects of our work. Videos will be available shortly.
Finally, Krista Chronister, Julie Wren, and I met with the academic subcommittee of our UO Board of Trustees to describe the penultimate draft of our Educator Equity in Teacher Preparation Institutional Plan required by Oregon HB 3375. I was impressed, again, by the commitment and insights of our board, which has resulted in our working on yet another draft of the plan. Please see the final plan submitted to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC), and the related article by the Daily Emerald (both attached). I will address the plan again on May 11th at the HECC meeting at Western Oregon University.
I close by echoing the sentiment expressed at the summit in DC this morning. We have yet to significantly move the outcome – the diversity of our educator workforce. One data point offered by Secretary King was that only 2% of teachers are African American males. With these data in mind, I am convinced that we will have to make unprecedented efforts to do better.
In the interest of your time, I hope that this message gives you a glimpse of some of the work that occurs outside your typical realm of operation. I am grateful for the skill and dedication that you, and all, are bringing to these initiatives.