Diversity in the Field

In this session, state leads from Cohort 1 AIPL teams will share about their states’ efforts to advance inclusive principal leadership through policy and practice change. States will share their goals for the work, strategies for increasing partner support for the work in implementation, and lessons learned.

This session will highlight effective strategies district and building administrators are implementing to support and reward educators, including strategies to promote staff well-being, improve working conditions, and strengthen instructional practice and classroom management.

In this session, you will hear from national experts and local practitioners about efforts across the country to reform teacher compensation, including specific actions to make the teaching profession more attractive and to retain effective teachers. Panelists will also discuss how the federal education funds (e.g., Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security [CARES] Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations [CRRSA] Act in 2020, American Rescue Plan [ARP]) can be used strategically to stabilize and strengthen the educator workforce.

In this webinar, the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) will describe the components of the residency model and share the conditions that must be present to successfully implement a residency program. NCTR’s director of state and federal policy will discuss the state and federal policies that promote, seed, and sustain teacher residencies. Webinar participants will leave the webinar with a clear understanding of the residency model and actionable next steps to explore launching a residency program to address teacher shortages, diversity, quality, and retention in their communities.

In this session, states and districts will learn about efforts to recruit high school students, career changers, and paraprofessionals into the profession, specifically to become special educators. The session will highlight Austin Peay State University’s apprenticeship program and Detroit Public Schools Community District’s On the Rise Academy.

In this session participants will hear from the Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation and Pedagogy, Georgia’s alternative pathway to teacher certification, as speakers describe its efforts to implement a rigorous, job-embedded teacher preparation program that prioritizes coaching, support, and research-based strategies and practices known to positively impact student learning. Concentrating on hard-to-staff subjects and schools, this vital pipeline provides Georgia schools with bright, talented individuals who are often second-career professionals.

This session will highlight innovation occurring among educator preparation programs to recruit individuals into the profession and to prepare and support them. Educator preparation programs engaged in the CEEDAR-supported, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Special Education Networked Improvement Community will discuss the innovative pathways and mutually beneficial partnerships that have bolstered recruitment and retainment efforts.

In this session, participants will hear from Metro West GLRS and Cobb County Schools as they share how they are partnering together to collaboratively implement the Georgia Teacher/Provider Retention Program (GA-TPRP) with their novice teachers, highlighting program successes and tips for implementation.

In this session, staff from Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) will review how grantees can leverage federal funds to attract, prepare, and retain an effective and diverse workforce by sequencing, blending, and braiding IDEA funds, as well as funds made available through the CARES, CRRSA and ARP Acts. OESE and OSEP staff will demonstrate how states and local education agencies can use these funds to strengthen existing programs and develop new programs to support our educators of today and tomorrow.

This opening session provides an overview of the educator shortage crisis, clarifies terminology that will be used throughout the webinar series, and sets the stage for upcoming sessions focused on specific evidence-based strategies designed to attract, prepare, and retain a strong and diverse educator workforce.