SPRING 2020 PROGRAM UPDATE: Effective and Representative Talent
We ensure strong, culturally competent teachers, school leaders, principal managers, and governing board members, with an emphasis on more Black and Brown people in those roles
Black and Brown Teacher Recruitment and Retention
We’ve partnered with the Wisconsin Policy Forum to conduct a series of focus groups with teachers of color. The results will be used for qualitative research by the Forum and our team. Due to COVID-19, we have been holding these sessions virtually.
Milwaukee Teacher Talent Collective
We’ve convened school leaders and hiring managers from district and independent schools across the city who have committed to improving strategies for recruitment and retention of teachers, and are adopting a goal to employ at least 40% Black and Brown teachers within the next five years. This Collective has two complementary components:
A citywide employee resource group (ERG) that serves as a venue for Black and Brown teachers to network with colleagues, learn, and aggregate feedback and suggestions based on their experiences
A Professional Development Working Group for hiring managers and school administrators who want to improve staff training and the tools and resources used in recruiting, hiring, and retaining teachers. Their goal is to remove racial bias from these processes, and integrate feedback from the ERG to make their schools a more welcome place for Black and Brown teachers.
Teacher Recruitment Ad Campaign
We’re working with the public service advertising experts at Serve Marketing on a large-scale ad campaign to encourage more people of color to become teachers. In addition to outdoor and online display advertising, this project includes an online tool to direct would-be teachers through the process of becoming a teacher.
Emerging Educator Scholarships
In March the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development announced a $500,000 Fast Forward grant to City Forward Collective to help scale Milwaukee Public Schools Emerging Educators pilot program. Through the grant, teacher assistants will earn scholarships to complete a bachelor’s degree program and become fully credentialed teachers. The investment from DWD will expand the program within MPS and extend it to teaching assistants in public charter schools. This will help ease the city’s teacher talent crunch, while also creating a new pipeline for educators of color.
Emerging Leaders Program
Our year-long Emerging Leaders Program continues preparing its latest cohort of 26 teachers for a future in school leadership. Though monthly sessions have shifted online, participants continue to meet for classes and work on their “school change” leadership capstone projects.
Burke Fellowship
Likewise, our Burke Fellowships continue with remote learning coursework with Alverno College, as well as virtual coaching meetings. Ten future principals are on schedule to complete their fellowships in May, and another 11 are preparing to advance to year two.
Fortunately, the two Burke Fellows cohorts made it to Indianapolis and back for their annual High-Quality School Visit prior to the limitations presented by COVID-19. This visit was planned in partnership with the Mind Trust, the Indianapolis-based peer organization of City Forward Collective.
This year, the City Forward Collective staff has provided expanded support to Burke alumni working in school leadership, including leadership coaching and facilitation of collegial visits to one another’s schools to observe and provide feedback.
Our team is now recruiting the next cohort of Burke Fellows through online tools to conduct virtual information sessions and meetings, with coursework set to begin late in the summer.