Diversifying the Teacher Workforce: Evidence From Surveys, Phone Interviews, and Site Visits With Educator Preparation Programs

Abstract

As America's prekindergarten through 12th grade population becomes increasingly diverse, educator preparation programs (EPPs) are tasked with attracting, admitting, supporting, and graduating more teacher candidates from underrepresented groups. The research reported here was designed to improve our understanding of strategies that some EPPs have used in their efforts to diversify their student body and produce qualified graduates from diverse backgrounds who are prepared to deliver high‐quality instruction to their students. EPPs that shared information for this research provided details about the barriers they had identified to increasing diversity in their programs. They also described efforts they made to address barriers and whether they perceived those efforts as helpful in diversifying their programs. Through multiple methods of data collection and analysis, we have compiled and synthesized descriptions of EPPs' strategies that we hypothesize may contribute to success in attracting, admitting, supporting, and graduating more teacher candidates from underrepresented groups. Ultimately, we note the highly contextualized experience of each EPP and suggest that EPPs consider whether strategies and solutions implemented at EPPs that feel they are achieving success would benefit their programs as well, perhaps concentrating on one or more phases of the teacher candidate's experience with the EPP. A model for how to implement programmatic change is proposed.