Equitable Access to Diverse Teachers and Leaders

This project will develop the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), Minnesota Regional Centers of Excellence (MN RCEs), and Minnesota local education agencies (MN LEAs) capacity to support continuous improvement around educator diversification. The project will create professional learning opportunities, tools, and guidance to support the use of a teacher diversification toolkit and implementation of evidence-based practices.

The state would like to better understand how state and local systems sustain barriers to entry into the educator workforce—particularly for teachers of color and American Indian (TOCAIT) teachers—as well as systemic factors that create high teacher mobility (both in the form of “movers” and “leavers”). From a clear understanding of multiple barriers and how they intersect, the state can begin dismantling those barriers. There is a need for technical assistance to develop tools/instruments on teacher/leader recruitment and retention (drilling down on diversity) to understand current trends.