The Pathways Program: A Model for Increasing the Number of Teachers of Color.

Abstract

Introduction According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2005), an accumulation of teaching personnel data reveals that teacher retention is a costly expense to individual states and to the nation. Yearly, thousands of teachers leave the profession or change schools in pursuit of better working conditions. About half of the teachers entering the teaching profession will leave their jobs in the first five years (Lambert, 2006). The field of teaching is much like a sieve: as one teacher enters, another leaves, costing the nation an estimated $4.9 billion each year (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2005). The rate of attrition is roughly 50% higher in high-need schools than in wealthy schools. High-need urban and rural schools are characterized by large numbers of poor and minority students, low student achievement, and high teacher turnover that involves teachers leaving the profession or transferring to another school. Schools serving large numbers of poor and minority students have become revolving doors for teachers--a factor that contributes to the low performance of the children. Teachers who serve in such schools tend to have fewer years of experience, are apt to be less qualified, and are often unfamiliar with the serious issues that plague the schools. Teacher retention is a serious problem in Georgia. By 2009, Georgia will have to replace 51,498 teachers due to terminations, an equivalent of more than 50% of the current workforce. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2005), the cost of teachers in Georgia leaving the profession is estimated at more than $81 million per year. Throughout Georgia the problem affects both urban or inner-city schools and rural schools classified as high need institutions. There is also a significant disparity between the proportion of students of color and the proportion of teachers of color (Dandy, 2000). Minorities--African-American and Hispanics--were the fastest growing populations in the state. In 1996, only 20% of Georgia's teachers were African-American, yet the proportion of students of color in many urban and rural schools exceeded 60%. The picture is even bleaker as one looks at the need for minority teachers in the state's rural counties. Located on the southeast coast of Georgia, Effingham, Glynn, and McIntosh counties have experienced unprecedented growth. Collectively, their minority population averaged 37%, but their teachers of color ranged from 5-10% of the teaching force. In that same year, neighboring Chatham County, under administration by the Savannah Chatham County Public School District (SCCPS), was serving 35,000 students. Sixty-six percent of the students were minorities, who accounted for 80% of the suspensions but only 59% of the high school graduations. Only 36% of SCCPS teachers were African-American, while 63% were Caucasian, and 1% were in the others category. In a comprehensive examination of the condition of minority teacher recruitment, preparation and retention, Torres, Santos, Peck, and Cortes (2004) found that minority teachers are underrepresented in the workforce today for the following reasons: inadequate academic preparation, attraction to other careers, unsupportive working conditions, lack of cultural and social support groups, increased standards and competency testing, low salaries, and high attrition rates. However, Haberman (1986) suggested that paraprofessionals (also known as teacher assistants, teacher aids or paraeducators) were a viable pool from which to select minority teacher candidates because of their predominance in those positions and their actual experience in schools. Haselkorn and Fideler (1996) reported that the nation's nearly 500,000 paraeducators held promise for creating a more diversified workforce. According to their national study, programs designed for populations such as these carry the following advantages. Such programs bring mature individuals with extensive classroom experience into the profession; they have far lower rates of attrition than many traditional teacher education programs. …