Creating a Diverse Education Workforce Through Innovation, Narrative Change

Educators play a vital role in shaping career-connected learning programs, ensuring the success of the next generation's workforce. But career-connected learning opportunities in the field of education itself don’t always receive the resources or attention they need. It is critically important that career-connected learning practitioners support the development of the education workforce, while creating accessible pathways into education careers.  

The need for a robust education workforce is most visible in schools’ hiring challenges. A National Center for Education Statistics survey found that 86% of public school districts struggled to hire teachers at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year. Without change, interest in teaching is unlikely to grow. Gen Z students show record low interest in education careers, citing lack of flexibility and support, among other hesitations. 

However, data suggests that early exposure to teaching careers could help change the narrative about education and encourage more students to enter the field. This underscores the urgency for innovative solutions to support and expand the educator workforce, and particularly to develop, hire and train teachers of color.

Two Catalyze grantees, Segue Institute for Learning and National Center for Grow Your Own (NCGYO), in partnership with Breakthrough Collaborative, are at the forefront of developing robust pipelines to support a steady flow of qualified and passionate educators into the system and reshape the story about what it means to work in education.

Segue Institute, a K-8, full-service public charter school based in Central Falls, R.I., experienced the teacher shortage first-hand. “We were having a very difficult time trying to identify teachers. And not just any teacher, but the right teacher,” said Angelo Garcia, founder of Segue Institute. 

This challenge led to the creation of Legacy High School, which is set to open in August 2024 for 100 students after receiving 300 applications for its inaugural class. Legacy High School will uniquely prepare its students by ensuring they graduate with a teacher assistant certification, with coursework that includes educational pedagogy, equity in education and social justice. Students will also gain practical experience by teaching and observing during their junior and senior years, thanks to partnerships with higher education institutions across the state. The school hopes to encourage diverse students to eventually work in Rhode Island’s urban school districts. 

As part of opening Legacy, Garcia and the Segue team built a coalition of supporters, including local parents and students, the Department of Education, local teacher unions, Teach For America and the Charter School Growth Fund. They said gaining support and consensus from diverse stakeholders confirmed the need for a school like Legacy.

Similarly, NCGYO and Breakthrough Collaborative are innovating through collaboration to create teacher apprenticeships to expose college students to education careers. 

Through registered teacher apprenticeships approved by the U.S. Department of Labor and state apprenticeship agencies, NCGYO works with states, districts, universities, and organizations like Breakthrough Collaborative to offer pathways into teaching careers, especially for people with experience working in schools who may not otherwise have the opportunity to become fully-licensed teachers. 

This approach not only fosters local talent but also aims to alleviate the financial burdens typically associated with entering the profession. Breakthrough Collaborative is the largest teacher pipeline program in the country, recruiting and training more than 1,000 college-aged Teaching Fellows each year.

The organizations are partnering to build what they hope will be a model for pre-apprenticeships into teaching . Through participation in Breakthrough’s programming, Teaching Fellows – nearly 80% of whom identify as people of color – will gain increased access to teacher apprenticeship programs that pay aspiring teachers as they learn and work, ensure they train for the most in-demand positions, and will not saddle them with future debt. The program will also offer wraparound support for students.

“The goal is to expand access to the profession through quality and affordable credentialing that streamlines the path to becoming a teacher,” said Ambler Mauger Ochstein, National Director of Institutional Partnerships at Breakthrough Collaborative.

Both Legacy High School and the new partnership between NCGYO and Breakthrough Collaborative showcase the transformative potential of collaborative, community-focused education initiatives. They each aim not only to increase access to careers in education but also to build enthusiasm for the field as a whole, and elevate the many career pathways that education has to offer.

“We want to change the narrative around what it is to teach,” said Melissa Lourenco, director of academics at Segue Institute. “As a field, education is not limited to just teachers. There are so many professions and careers that make schools and school systems successful. We want to bring all of that promise and potential to students.”