{"id":28625,"date":"2023-02-24T20:18:54","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T01:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.workingteddy.com\/?p=28625"},"modified":"2023-02-24T20:18:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T01:18:54","slug":"us-has-a-teacher-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/us-has-a-teacher-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"US Has a Teacher Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surrounded by kindergarteners<\/strong><\/span>, Lana Scott held up a card with upper and lower case Ys, dotted with pictures of words that started with that letter: Yo-yo. Yak. Yacht.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat sound does Y make?\u201d Scott asked a boy. Head down, he mumbled: \u201cYuh.\u201d Instead of moving on, she gave him a nudge.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay it confident, because you know it,\u201d she urged. \u201cBe confident in your answer because you know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sat up and sounded it out again, louder this time. Scott smiled and turned her attention to the other kids in her group session.<\/p>\n

As a student teacher from Bowie State University<\/strong><\/span>, a historically Black institution, Scott said she has learned to build deep connections with students. The school, Whitehall Elementary, is filled with teachers and administrators who graduated from Bowie State. Classrooms refer to themselves as families, and posters on the wall ask children to reflect on what makes a good classmate.<\/p>\n

HBCUs play an outsize role in producing teachers of color in the U.S., where only 7% of teachers are Black, compared with 15% of students. Of all Black teachers nationwide, nearly half are graduates of an HBCU.<\/p>\n

Having teachers who look like them is crucial for young Americans. Research has found Black students who have at least one Black teacher are more likely to graduate from high school and less likely to be suspended or expelled. Some new research suggests the training found at HBCUs may be part of what makes an effective teacher.<\/p>\n

A recent study of elementary school students in North Carolina found Black students performed better in math when taught by an HBCU-educated teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something to be said for the environment that\u2019s cultivated, the way they connect with their students, the inspiration, the vulnerability that they may have with their students,\u201d said Stanford University graduate student Lavar Edmonds, who conducted the study.<\/p>\n

In Edmonds\u2019 study, the teacher\u2019s race did not have an impact on student outcomes, but their training did. For Black students, Black and white HBCU-trained teachers were more effective than their non-HBCU-trained<\/strong><\/span> counterparts.<\/p>\n

HBCUs also have received recognition as key players in solving teacher shortages around the country. The U.S. Department of Education this month announced $18 million in awards for minority-serving institutions including HBCUs, highlighting the role they play in building a more diverse teaching force.<\/p>\n

At Bowie State faculty, students and alumni said their training as teachers centered the importance of building a strong sense of community and connecting with their students as individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s making sure that your students just feel safe at school,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

The training places an emphasis on culturally responsive teaching, said Rhonda Jeter, dean of the school\u2019s College of Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are doing the research to validate what we\u2019ve been doing all along,\u201d Jeter said. \u201cWhen they go to places where students are students of color, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

The tradition of training educators at HBCUs dates back to before the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Founded in the 1800s to educate Black Americans who were not allowed to study at other colleges, many HBCUs first existed in some form as \u201cnormal schools,\u201d or training programs for teachers.<\/p>\n

Training at HBCUs provides an immersion in Black culture and an understanding that teachers can bring that to classrooms, said Sekou Biddle, a vice president at the United Negro College Fund. Students at HBCUs, he said, also learn about \u201cthe history of Black excellence in America that I think oftentimes gets missed in a lot of other environments.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Bowie State graduate who now teaches at Whitehall Elementary, Christine Ramroop said hearing from her classmates about their experiences as students \u2014 including times where they did not feel supported, respected or understood by their teachers \u2014 made her more aware of the impact she could have in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to an HBCU, I heard a lot of stories about so many teachers that didn\u2019t feel seen in the classroom as students,\u201d Ramroop said. \u201cIt really kind of shapes your mind as a teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramroop said that her time at Bowie emphasized the importance of finding a connection with each student and making them feel at home.<\/p>\n

As her students walk into her class at Whitehall each day, they pass a poster hung by the doorframe. Under the title \u201c23 reasons why Ms. Ramroop is a grateful teacher,\u201d each child\u2019s name is listed next to a specific quality.<\/p>\n

Lionel\u2019s big smile. Aiden\u2019s sweet personality. Nadia\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

On a recent Tuesday, Ramroop gathered her first-graders<\/strong><\/span> onto a carpet. Hands reached up to volunteer for the chance to answer the vocabulary warm-up exercises. Ramroop was quick to praise the ones who got it right and gentle in correcting the ones who got it wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive yourself a round of applause,\u201d Ramroop said. \u201cTell your partner you did a good job. Now point to another friend and say, \u2018You did a good job.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Around her, little voices echoed, \u201cYou did a good job. You did a good job. We did a good job!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surrounded by kindergarteners, Lana Scott held up a card with upper and lower case Ys, dotted with pictures of words that started with that letter: Yo-yo. Yak. Yacht. \u201cWhat sound does Y make?\u201d Scott asked a boy. Head down, he mumbled: \u201cYuh.\u201d Instead of moving on, she gave him a nudge. \u201cSay it confident, because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3684,3696,3712,3707,3699,3700,3695,3692,3713],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-business","category-employment","category-english","category-finance","category-financial","category-jobs","category-news","category-united-states"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.beanybux.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}