June 6, 2023 — NCTR is excited to announce the release of our 2021-2022 Black Educators Initiative (BEI) Annual Report, which indicates that BEI grantees continue to successfully recruit, prepare, and support Black teachers, as well as positively impacting entire school communities. BEI’s success is a testament to the innovation and commitment of the teacher residency programs in NCTR’s Network, mentor teachers, teacher residents, and the many partners who support BEI.
In Year 3 of the five-year initiative, NCTR granted $3.7 million in funding to 20 network programs, with $893,700 awarded directly in scholarships directly to Black teacher residents and enrolled 303 teacher residents. Because of this investment, Year 2 grantees saw larger numbers of applications and enrolled larger numbers of Black teacher residents in the third year of the initiative.
We are also pleased to highlight the release of our policy paper in January 2023, Doing Better for Black Educators, based on our partnership work with grantees and the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL) at Columbia University. With this paper, NCTR is able to help more teacher preparation programs, school districts, and states use what BEI grantees are learning in order to improve the recruitment, preparation, and retention of Black educators across the country. Many thanks to the W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation for their support of this research.
None of this would be possible without the generosity of Ballmer Group, and we are deeply appreciative of Ballmer Group’s ongoing support of the Black Educators Initiative.
On behalf of the NCTR Team, thank you to our teacher residency program for your commitment to the residency model, your steadfast vision, and the 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 several 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,
The BEI Team
Keilani Martin Goggins, Director of the Black Educators Initiative
Allyson Williams Eubanks, Director of Programs
Aja Simpson Zulfiqar, Director of Programs