CEA is stepping up its efforts to diversify Connecticut’s teaching force by launching a statewide awareness campaign aimed at encouraging more young people of color to pursue careers in teaching. Right now, more than 40 percent of Connecticut’s schoolchildren are minorities, but only 8 percent of the state’s teachers are people of color.
The new campaign, Teaching Is Calling You, highlights teachers as role models for their students as well as mentors for young people who may never have considered the positive difference they could make as future educators.
“I think any individual can make a difference. I, for a long time, have been the only African American male teacher at my school, and I have definitely seen the impact of my voice. Students should consider the teaching profession because it really is a great opportunity to connect with children and create the kind of school they want to see.”
-Marquis Johnson, Windsor science teacher
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Why we need more teachers of color
- Teacher diversity affects student learning
- Diversifying the teaching profession: How to recruit and retain teachers of color
- Can ‘cultural proficiency’ among teachers help close the student achievement gap?
- Why schools need more teachers of color—for white students
- School leaders can help reduce minority teacher turnover
“At age 14, I moved from Mexico to the United States. It was hard, but I had a teacher who helped me, and I wanted to be that teacher for someone else.”
– Nalleli Becerra-Garcia, Bridgeport bilingual kindergarten teacher