June 7, 2022 — NCTR is excited to announce the release of our 2020-2021 Black Educators Initiative (BEI) Annual Report, which shows that even against a backdrop of COVID-19 and societal and civil unrest, BEI grantees are successfully recruiting, preparing, and supporting Black teachers, as well as positively impacting entire school communities. That the BEI is able to make this claim is a testament to the resilience of our residency program partners, mentors, residents and other stakeholders.
In Year 2 of the five-year effort, NCTR granted $3.7 million in funding to 14 network programs, with $800,000 awarded directly in scholarships to Black residents, and enrolled 251 teacher residents. Because of this investment, Year 1 grantees saw larger numbers of applications and enrolled larger numbers of Black residents in the second year of the initiative. Given the national trend of declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs, this is notable.
We are also pleased to highlight our partnership with the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University, who conducted research on the early impact of the BEI. CPRL’s study found that BEI funds positively impacted the recruitment of Black teachers, and that being an original BEI grantee is associated with a 16% higher share of Black residents, compared with non-BEI programs, to a statistically significant degree. Many thanks to the W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation for their support of this research. This report will be available on our website at a later date.
NCTR is deeply appreciative of the Ballmer Group, whose ongoing support of BEI has made it possible for NCTR to provide support to both our residency partners and residents themselves.
On behalf of the NCTR Team, thank you to our partners for your commitment to the residency model, your steadfast vision, and the very hard work that you do every day to recruit, prepare and retain Black educators. In the best of times, teaching is hard work, and the past couple of years have been incredibly challenging. We appreciate your contributions to our collective community, your continued engagement, and always doing what’s best for students.
Warmly,