PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The School District of Philadelphia wants to get more students of color interested in teaching careers — and is making an effort to train them through a new state-funded program.
Parkway West High School in West Philly has a pre-apprenticeship for students looking to get hands-on training in early childhood education, as well as a Black male teacher training cohort.
The programs have about 40 participating students and have been bolstered by a $400,000 grant from the Shapiro administration.
“Not only are they helping the young person that they’re working with, that they’re tutoring, it also helps their reading levels grow, their math levels grow at the same time,” said Christopher Goins, president and CEO of Philadelphia Academies, a nonprofit helping to facilitate the programs.
Program administrators are addressing a teacher shortage that the city and nation as a whole are facing, but also want to get minority students more teachers to whom they can relate.
Dr. Debora Carrera, the city’s chief education officer, says representation is key for a good learning environment. “I had teachers whose names were Ramonita-Vega, Ms. Pineda — and I also had Ms. Shapiro! But I had teachers that looked like me,” she said.
The most recent district data available from the last school year found that while half the students in the district are Black, only about 22% of the more than 9,000 teachers and counselors at city public schools are also Black. And despite a quarter of students identifying as Hispanic or Latino, less than 4% of their teachers and counselors share that background.
“Let me be clear: when we are trying to diversify our teaching force to look more like the city of Philadelphia, this is not about quotas, it’s about representation,” said School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Dr. Tony Watlington.
However, while identifying an issue is one thing, Carrera says putting in the necessary work to fix it is another thing.
“I think too often we set goals for young people, but we don’t help them with how to get to that goal. What this program does is that it gives students that coaching to help them cross the finish line,” she said.
“Not only do we have to invest more in teachers, teacher salaries, and teacher support — and professional development and learning,” Watlington added, “we’ve got to recognize in this country that representation matters.”