Editorial: Fix N.C. public schools' lack of teacher diversity, turnover now
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 -- Rather than looking for ways to close troubling gaps in diversity between public school students and teachers along with increases in teacher turnover, the N.C. General Assembly has taken a cleaver to the efforts to fix them and done little or nothing to replace those programs. Particularly troubling, is that much of this was done out of pure ideological spite.
Posted — UpdatedSince 2011, rather than looking for ways to close these troubling gaps, the General Assembly has taken a cleaver to the efforts to fix them and done little or nothing to replace those programs. Particularly troubling, is that much of this was done out of pure ideological spite.
When the original North Carolina Teaching Fellows program was abolished, it had about 10,650 fellows – around 1,800 minorities and 2,500 males. It produced more than 8,500 graduates with 5,300 of them completing the four-year public school teaching obligation.
The fellowships were offered at 17 public and private North Carolina campuses – including three historically-minority universities in the UNC system.
The newly “revived” teaching fellows program had 74 students in it last year – 13 male and 13 minorities. No historically minority campuses, public or private, are a part of the program. That’s not revival. It’s a token, an insult.
It is reflective of a sorry record of mismanagement where the legislative leadership’s priority has been corporate tax cuts followed by taking a wrecking ball to public education.
Support for public schools, including teachers, must, again, be a priority. The teacher pipeline must be expanded. The legislature should revive the Teaching Fellows program with strong goals for male and minority participation and include incorporating historically minority campuses into the mix.
The neglect has gone on far too long. The time to act for North Carolina’s future is now.
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