The pathway for candidates to become teachers can be littered with challenges. Those obstacles may be financial need, time for school, family dependence or something else.
According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2022 there were a total of 6.6 million teachers in the nation. Within that total, only 25% were nonwhite. Public schoolteachers are far less ethnically diverse than their students, says the National Center for Education Statistics.
City University of Seattle offers strong programs that address the significant barriers some potential teachers face, making the school one of the country’s leading producers of diverse educators.
CityU’s Alternative Routes to Certification program is a major initiative to tackle the current teacher shortage.. Students can fast-track the process and become certified teachers in one year. The paraprofessional population often takes advantage of this program because they already have a background working with kids. Paraeducators are more aligned with student populations and more diverse than the typical teacher, says Steve Brown, program director, School of Education and Leadership at CityU.
Statistics for CityU show an increase in nonwhite candidates: In the school year 2022-23, 158 students were enrolled in alternative routes. The breakdown says 46.2% of those were white, 44.3% were nonwhite and 9.5% chose not to disclose their ethnicity.
Another option that targets increased diversity within the teaching workforce is the Academy for Rising Educators, which partners with Seattle Public Schools. ARE helps students on the road to their teacher certification with tuition, cohort assistance and an offer of future employment.
ARE is partially funded by a City of Seattle levy, says Brown. The program helps high school seniors, recent grads and classified staff secure their teaching credentials. A candidate can have a portion of the tuition paid or all of it paid.
“The program exemplifies what good support of a diverse teacher workforce looks like,” says Leanna Aker, program manager of the School of Education and Leadership at CityU. “It isn’t just about recruiting — although that is certainly a big piece of it — we have to also support educators through all phases of their teaching careers.”
It’s important that candidates who complete a teaching certificate degree and get a job as a teacher are supported by their trainers. If they encounter situations in their jobs that make them feel excluded, Aker says, they should be helped through a professional learning community. They should also feel free to ask for advice from previous professors. Once these teachers are out in classrooms, they can begin changing futures.
Brown says students of color who learn from educators of color see the full range of possibilities. Undergraduates realize they can become teachers or seek other professional employment. For example, a science teacher who looks like them helps students believe they can become astronauts or physicists, he says.
“School kids look up to teachers as role models — often forming close relationships — with those educators who are similar to them and look like them,” says Brown. “That makes students’ dreams much more realistic and attainable.”
Children learn through play. When their crayons, blocks, dolls and puzzles depict different skin colors and a variety of cultures, young peoples’ worldviews become more expansive and inclusive. The same works in the school setting. When students see educators who represent marginalized populations, they also perceive them as good examples.
“Teachers can tell the students ‘You can be anything you want,’ but when that phrase comes from a white educator, it doesn’t have the same resonance as it does when it comes from a teacher of color,” says Brown.
Having a diverse educator population helps K-12 learners hear and experience different approaches and perspectives. Then the students recognize their own view is one of many, Aker says. A diverse set of perspectives also works toward equity in the school curriculum.
An educator’s lived experience, in their own K-12 schooling, can affect how they interpret unexpected student behavior and then how they interact with those students, Aker says.
“We employ a wide variety of efforts to encourage, assist and to build into our system a diversified workforce,” Brown says, adding that key element, “And to keep it going.”
City University of Seattle is accredited through the doctoral level. Find programs in business, leadership, education, health and human services, computer and information systems. CityU is ranked as a 2024 Best Online Bachelor program by US News & World Report.