University‐district partnerships and the recruitment of tomorrow's teachers: A grassroots effort for preparing quality educators through a teaching academy

Abstract

A critical problem facing educators today is the inability of our teacher education system to produce substantial numbers of teachers from racial, ethnic, and language minority groups. However, there is little research on partnerships that link the roles of institutions of higher education with those of school districts whose goal is to grow their own members of the teaching profession. A Professional Development School (PDS) partnership sought to integrate the goals of both groups by providing high school students with an understanding of teachers and teachers' work. High school participants in an urban Teaching Professions Academy (TPA) engaged in course work, teaching experiences, and visits to institutions of higher education. The success of TPA was in the ability of multiple stakeholders to provide different forms of support and insights into the program.