A growing body of research has found that having a single teacher of color can boost academic achievement, high school graduation rates, college enrollment, and social-emotional well-being for students of color. In 2019, in alignment with Commissioner Riley's "Our Way Forward," DESE prioritized the recruitment and retention of a diverse and culturally responsive Massachusetts educator workforce.
Here are some of the ways we're supporting that work:
The Massachusetts Aspiring Principal Fellowship is a one-year program for aspiring school leaders that seeks to cultivate a strong and diverse pipeline of effective school principals who are committed to championing culturally and linguistically sustaining learning communities, equity-driven leadership, and anti-racist practices.
A pilot program that provides competitive grant funding to support local school and district efforts to strengthen and diversify existing teacher recruitment and retention programs.
This competitive grant supports non-profit organizations and institutes of higher education efforts to diversify the Massachusetts public K–12 educator workforce by supporting the development of new and/or existing programs and partnerships with local schools and districts.
A network that supports and enhances school and district understanding of the components needed to develop and implement a comprehensive talent diversification strategy (recruitment, selection, and retention) centered on cultural proficiency.
This guidebook provides a framework to help district and school leaders design and implement a teacher diversification strategy to improve student achievement and create equitable outcomes.
The InSPIRED Initiative connects current educators to work with DESE to help cultivate, support, and retain a culturally responsive and diverse educator workforce in Massachusetts schools.
A fellowship program designed for current administrators to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of superintendents in Massachusetts and create more culturally responsive districts and leaders.
This policy was developed to further support educator recruitment and retention efforts in Massachusetts. The policy allows DESE to identify non-profit entities that may provide home ownership resources to prospective and newly hired teachers and administrators.
Last Updated: March 26, 2024
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