Over the past two decades, the short supply of teachers of color in elementary and secondary public schools has drawn the attention of policymakers and educators alike. To address the widening cultural chasm between teachers and their students, a variety of initiatives that aim to recruit people of color into teaching have been launched. Little…

This article examines minority teacher recruitment policies and programs of the past two decades and explores their influence on the racial/ethnic makeup of the teaching force in elementary and secondary public schools. The results show that while important progress has been made toward increasing the overall number and proportion of minority…

Reviews the reasons for increasing the diversity of the teaching force, especially in urban schools. Introduces the articles of this special issue, which address the roles of federal, state, and local governments in increasing teacher diversity, discuss successful programs for increasing diversity, and describe the experiences and perspectives of…

The Pathways to Teaching Careers Program was evaluated over the course of 6 years. The program worked with colleges and universities to develop effective strategies for recruiting and preparing teachers to complete all requirements for teacher certification leading to full-time jobs. Partnerships between the universities and local school districts…

Reviews the teacher shortage in urban schools nationally and describes the paraprofessional/emergency certified teachers provisions of the Pathways to Teaching Careers Program and the sites in which it has been implemented. An evaluation has indicated that paraprofessionals and emergency certified teachers working in urban schools are an excellent…

Reports evaluation data from the Pathways to Teaching Careers Program, which focuses on recruiting more diverse and older teaching paraprofessionals, uncertified/emergency certified teachers, and returned Peace Corps volunteers. Multiyear evaluation indicates that Pathways has exceeded its recruitment goals and graduated early cohorts of…

In this chapter, the authors argue that increasing the racial/ethnic diversity of the teacher workforce should be a key component of any system that aims to supply schools with well-prepared teachers for all students. The authors first explain why they think attention and resources should be devoted to increasing the diversity of the teacher…

This collection is based on two studies of approaches to increasing the supply of minority teachers. The first was a documentation study of programs supported by the Ford Foundation Minority Education Demonstration Project designed to attract minority candidates, prepare them well, and present model programs. The second study described a range of…

To increase the representation of people of color in teaching, the potential candidate pool must expand beyond those who are likely to attend college. Paraprofessional school personnel, who typically are from minority groups, constitute a ready source for increasing the supply of diverse teachers. Five strategies that contribute to the success of…

This handbook is a guide to the design of new teacher recruitment programs. It is intended to help new programs make the best possible start in duplicating the success of the Pathways program, which seeks to recruit from three nontraditional pools: paraprofessionals, uncertified teachers, and returned Peace Corps volunteers. Pathways involves:…