The U.S. Department of Education (EDU) announced recently it is offering $368 million in grants to promote programs that recruit and retain educators.
The funding opportunities through the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) and the Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive programs were announced June 8. EDU states in the news release that the grants "particularly prioritize" encouraging teacher diversity, career advancement and leadership opportunities, and increased financial compensation.
The grant opportunities are part of EDU Sec. Miguel Cardona's Raise the Bar initiative, which illustrates EDU's "commitment to transform P-12 education and unite around what is effective — based on decades of experience and research — and advance educational equity and excellence," the release states. "As part of our Raise the Bar efforts to boldly improve learning conditions, the Department is working to eliminate the educator shortage at every public school and support the educator workforce."
Investing in leadership and advancement opportunities, increasing teacher pay and benefits and promoting teacher diversity are strategies that have been shown as effective in teacher recruitment and retention, according to the release.
"Raising the bar means investing in the well-being, professional development, and mental health of our teachers,” Cardona posted on Twitter June 7.
The Brookings Institution published a report in 2017 titled The Importance of a Diverse Teaching Force that found disparities in the racial composition of U.S. school children compared to the racial composition of their teachers. According to the report, in 2015 slightly more than half of school-age children in the U.S. were white, while nearly 80 percent of teachers ages 25 to 34 were white. Black students made up approximately 13% of children; 8% of teachers were black, the analysis reports. Hispanic and Asian populations reported similar numbers, according to the report.
Research has consistently shown that a diverse teaching staff improves student performance and outcomes. The announced aim to eliminate racial disparities between school children and their teachers by providing educators from underrepresented backgrounds with more opportunities to enter and thrive in the profession, the release reports.
EIR grants invest in new, innovative approaches to mitigate chronic challenges to student success, the release reports. Successful programs will be able to demonstrate their effectiveness and can be repeated and evaluated in different populations and settings, according to the release.
TSL grants focus on human capital management and performance-based compensation systems, the release report. The program aims to strengthen the overall quality and diversity of the educator workforce by providing incentives for effective educators to remain in the profession and encouraging diverse individuals to pursue teaching careers.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education James Lane stressed in the release the urgent need for innovative approaches to recruit and retail well-qualified educators who reflect the diversity of their students.
"Teachers shape thriving individuals and communities, as well as the future of our nation,” Lane said in the release. “Now more than ever, we need more innovative approaches to supporting the return and retention of outstanding, well-prepared, well-supported educators who meet the needs and reflect the diversity of their students.”