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With and For Diverse Students: Why We Need Greater Teacher Diversity
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
While I currently serve as the Interim Dean of Education, I am a classroom teacher at heart. In order to be truly connected to what is happening in the classroom, it is as important that ethnically and linguistically diverse teacher candidates are taught by professors with the same characteristics. As a result, I recently had the opportunity to teach a course to Warner Pacific’s very first cohort of adult students earning a Bachelor of Education. Teaching a classroom full of working paraprofessionals is unlike anything I have done in my career as a professional educator.
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WITH AND FOR DIVERSE STUDENTS
Why we need greater teacher diversity
By Gustavo Olvera, Interim Dean of Education
Warner Pacific University has staked out a frontline position in the critical work of preparing educators to engage in an urban setting. Since the diversity of our K-12 students is increasing, we need to prepare teachers that reflect their racial and cultural backgrounds in order to make sure those diverse students attain success in equitable classrooms. At Warner Pacific, we believe this purpose aligns exactly with our core themes, particularly “collaborating with and for our urban environment” and “investing in the formation and success of students from diverse backgrounds.”
In a concerted effort to contribute to the diversification of the teacher workforce, WPU developed a program that would meet the needs of future licensed teachers who are already working in neighboring school districts as paraprofessional educators. The Paraprofessional Educators Program (PEP) is designed so that students can complete either the Bachelor of Science in Education or a Master of Arts in Teaching in an evening format, while they continue to work in their current positions.
It is important to note that Warner Pacific University is geographically located within Oregon’s largest school district, Portland Public Schools (PPS). PPS is home to more than 49,000 students in over 80 schools. Data from the 2017–18 school year shows that 43% of students enrolled in PPS are students of color, and 35% are considered economically disadvantaged.
Significant challenges for providers of educator preparation programs include the demographic gaps between the state’s students and teachers. Data published by the Chief Education Office in the 2019 Oregon Educator Equity Report demonstrates that 39.9% of students identify as ethnically diverse compared to only 10.4% of the teacher workforce. The unbalanced representation of the student population among teachers presents a significant issue to all education program providers in Oregon.
WPU’s location in Multnomah County places the University in the heart of highly diverse student populations, where it is well placed to address a significant need for an increasing number and percentage of teachers of diverse backgrounds to better reflect the demographics of the student population.
We believe the PEP addresses the need for a more diverse teacher population, while also contributing to the economic stability of the para-educators who are serving our school districts so well. Currently, para-educators are paid a modest hourly wage, while completion of their degree and attaining their licensure would provide opportunity for them to earn a living wage.
Paraprofessionals bring lived experiences into the university classroom, which significantly enhanced the coursework, enriched classroom discussions and elevated the relevance of instructional methods. As cohort members progress in every course, it is evident how the self-esteem of the paraprofessionals increases as they fortify their teacher identity. The wealth of experience that paraprofessionals bring to their learning is accelerating their path toward a teaching license.
The majority of paraprofessionals serve as education assistants who work under the guidance of licensed teachers to attend to the needs of PK-12 students in a variety of academic, as well as social-emotional, areas of development. With the support of Warner Pacific’s President, Dr. Andrea Cook, and with the collaboration of education leaders in the six neighboring districts in Multnomah County, WPU launched its first adult Bachelor of Education (BSED) program in September 2019. School district superintendents, HR directors, and teacher leaders were excited to partner with highereducation faculty at Warner Pacific to bring the concept of “Grow Your Own” teachers to life.
The first BSED cohort is highly ethnically diverse. While not all of the WPU Education teaching faculty are people of color, we all work collaboratively to ensure that we continue to develop and strengthen students’ teacher qualities, dispositions and knowledge of teaching and learning. This very diverse group of teachers in training will undoubtedly bring a positive impact to the lives of every student they encounter in the Portland metropolitan area.
Diversifying the teacher workforce is not done in isolation. We are working closely with our partnering districts, Portland Public Schools, Gresham-Barlow, David Douglas, Centennial, Parkrose and Reynolds. Several PEP cohorts have already started in school districts such as David Douglas and Gresham-Barlow. Our commitment to paraprofessionals has led us to develop partnership agreements in order to maintain students at the center. Clear partnership agreements will allow Warner Pacific and school districts to be goal-oriented and to be very deliberate in designing the supports we provide for paraprofessionals as they prepare to become licensed teachers.
As we look ahead, Warner Pacific is already working on continuing to recruit diverse faculty and university supervisors. We are in conversation with nonprofit organizations who are looking to support Grow Your Own programs in the state of Oregon. On a recent visit to Washington State, a group of WPU colleagues learned that in order to create sustainable Grow Your Own pathways, we must make it a community investment.
In recognizing the need for high-quality, well-supported and
Multnomah County: Comparison of Diverse Students to Teachers and Administrators
Centennial David Douglas Gresham-Barlow Parkrose PPS Reynolds
culturally responsive educators in our schools, Governor Kate Brown issued Executive Order 16-08 creating the Governor’s Council on Educator Advancement (EAC). The recommendations of the EAC include the following: 1. Create and deepen partnerships between
Pre-Kindergarten services, districts, community colleges and universities to promote interest in the teaching profession, coordinate teacher and administrator preparation efforts, and share data sets needed to achieve a high-quality pool of licensed professionals. 2. Streamline career pathways into teaching and provide financial resources and supports to achieve an educator workforce in Oregon that is equity-driven and more reflective of Pre-
Kindergarten-12 student demographics. 3. Support all novice teachers with induction and mentoring during their first two years. The education faculty and staff from Warner Pacific are participating in work groups that include other PEPs, school district administrators and educational service district staff. These groups collaborate to find ways to streamline career pathways and seek out financial resources to support this work. Recently, a study tour of programs in the metro area featured the pioneering efforts of Warner Pacific to provide these degree programs. In addition, the groups are seeking out ways to build systems that will allow our schools to provide mentoring support and long-term retention of high-quality teachers with diverse backgrounds.
With the firm intention of increasing the diversity of the teaching workforce, Warner Pacific’s Education Department is honoring the University’s Core Themes. Charged with the mission to collaboratively co-construct programs that recruit and educate diverse paraprofessionals within our metro school districts, we have aligned our tasks with the needs of PK-12 schools in our urban area. We are fostering educational relationships that address the current needs of area districts. These relationships are built on respect, honor for the unique gifts of each member and trust that each of us desires to make a difference in the lives of each student. We have honest, tough conversations about systemic issues such as institutional racism, glaring inequities within current systems and the imbalance of power and voice.
We are intentionally building relationships and programs that are sustainable and contribute value that can be measured over time. The Paraprofessional Educators Program is one example of the life-changing work we do at Warner Pacific University as we nurture our dynamic ability to be the first to respond to community needs, whether they arise from a global pandemic, economic shifts or social or demographic changes. ▪
An Alumnus’s Perspective on the Crisis in Education
WPU alumnus Bob Stewart, Superintendent of Schools, Gladstone School District, is featured in our Alumni Profile on p. 18. Here, Bob draws on his many years of leadership to respond to our questions about the future of urban education.
What is the crisis of urban education?
Too few people are ready to step into the role as an educator. There are not enough programs anymore. Nationally, fewer than half the number of college students are pursuing a degree that would put them in education as 10 years ago. There is a significant workforce shortage.
That was supposed to be addressed by the Oregon Student Success Act. Landing the needed people was going to become incredibly competitive. In fact, some school districts were going to end up in a worse position as employees might be hired away to locations that might be more desirable. Districts would be scrambling to replace those people. It would be the only time in my 45-year career that we were making a substantial investment into education to improve outcomes for kids. In my career, all we have done is subtract—we have never meaningfully added. This has all been put on hold. Education funding is in a much different place due to COVID-19. I am not aware of any districts around me that are hiring. The same issue will still exist. There are not enough young people going into education jobs. Why do you think people are not choosing education as a career?
Creative approaches are needed to training teachers. Students not going into teaching because of the cost of college exceeding the amount they can earn as a teacher. Also, the perception of education as a career is an issue. People see how hard teachers work, and they don’t want to work that hard.
The need in Oregon (I think) is: 4,000 teachers a year need to be generated, and our college programs are generating about a third of that. So there is a tremendous growth opportunity. Warner Pacific is positioned well. WPU is nimble compared to other universities. The potential is in the partnerships that Warner Pacific has formed with school districts in the Portland metro area and that can be expanded further to other districts.
What can schools like WPU do to lessen the workforce crisis?
There is a significant interest on the part of the school districts to diversify the workforce, and Warner Pacific is perfectly positioned to help fill that role. The question is how fast can Warner Pacific expand?
The target is to help students enter the field of education in college and come out debt free. What avenues are needed for that to occur? Grants and scholarships aren’t the only answer. Students need to complete a degree, have a job at hand and have no debt when they finish school. Create a robust dual-credit program and work with school districts to develop an internship program that will pay students a salary while they are in school.
