The University of Massachusetts School of Education is holding a minority recruitment initiative in hopes of encouraging students of color to pursue professions in elementary and secondary education, through the school’s master degree licensing program.
In the United States, the number of public school children from various ethnic backrounds is growing, but the ethnic range among teachers does not meet the same eclectic. At UMass, the SOE has embarked on a campaign to change the teacher demographic.
“The public school student population continues to have a more and more diverse student body, higher percentages of color in our public schools, and if you look at some numbers by 2010 there’s going to be 40 percent students of color, but the teacher population is losing teachers of color,” said Ray Sherick, certification officer at the SOE.
The SOE is focusing the minority recruitment initiative particularly toward elementary and secondary education because grade school and middle school is the principal time when children form their ideas about social identity and culture.
“We’re particularly targeting recruitment into elementary and secondary teaching because they are such strategically important positions as in terms of … their role models,” said Andrew Effrat, dean of the SOE. “[They have] a lot of visible impact.”
The minority recruitment initiative task force, at this time, has not enrolled as many colored students in its program as wanted.
“The success has been limited so far. I don’t think we recruited a very diverse student population, yet we’re hoping to change that in terms of changing people’s awareness,” said Effrat.
The students of the SOE have helped to motivate the efforts by recruiting undergraduate seniors at the Campus Center and finding other ways to convey information about the program.
“Recently out efforts have [really been] spearheaded by a couple of graduate students, Mala Panday and Audilia Deandradeand, they have really taken initiative themselves and help stimulate us as a school, and we’ve really focused on spreading the word and recruiting students into our one year masters program,” said Sherick.
Students of the SOE have also felt the need to recruit more colored students to help reach their goal.
“I felt the only way to really meet that objective is to recruit a more diverse teacher applicant pool,” said Panday.
The SOE is also reaching out to underclassmen to spark their interest in pursuing a career in teaching.
“We’re going to continue through the rest of the semester to actively recruit undergraduates here who are freshman, sophomores, juniors who aren’t ready for master degree programs,” said Sherick. “Then also reach out to public school guidance counselors.”
Students should be aware that job openings in the teaching field are going to increase in the next few years.
“People should have the sense that job openings are there and coming even more so as the current profession retires,” said Effrat. “Probably close to half the present teaching force is likely to retire across the country. In this region the demographics are such that there will be a lot of openings, a lot of opportunities.”
