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U.S. Dept. of Education awards over $60 million to address teacher shortage, increase leadership

Today, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) is announcing new awards to further address the teacher shortage and help ensure long-term investments in teacher pipeline and development programs across the country. New investments under the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program, include 22 new three-year grants totaling more than $60 million, bringing the Biden-Harris Administration’s additional support for teachers through Fiscal Year 2022 grant competitions to more than $285 million.

“We are treating our efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain a talented and diverse educator workforce with the same level of urgency we brought to reopening our schools during the height of the pandemic,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Now more than ever, we are supporting teacher preparation and development programs that provide educators with meaningful, relevant, and evidence-based strategies for promoting student success and social and emotional well-being. Today’s investment of over $60 million will support high-quality programs across the country that are truly raising the bar for professional development and embracing evidence-based and innovative and promising approaches, like Grow-Your-Own programs, to strengthen the teacher pipeline today, and in the years ahead.”

The SEED program supports evidence-based practices that prioritizes educators’ growth across the continuum of their careers. In this year’s SEED competition, the Department directed funding to projects designed to support educator workforce through high-quality, comprehensive teacher preparation programs, including those with a strong track record of recruiting and placing underrepresented teacher candidates, and that include one year of high-quality clinical experiences. The Department also prioritized projects designed to help teachers create inclusive and equitable learning designed to meet students’ social, emotional, and academic needs.

The National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) latest survey results on public school experiences with COVID-19 show that, as of August 2022, 53 percent of all public schools reported feeling understaffed entering the 2022-23 school year, and 69 percent reported too few candidates as the biggest challenge to hiring teachers. By investing in programs like SEED and focusing on the most pressing needs, the Biden-Harris Administration is helping to strengthen the teacher pipeline and provide long-term investments in the teaching profession.

Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant awardees include

NATIONAL

The National Center for Teacher Residencies’ (NCTR) Centering Equity, Building & Scaling Teacher Residencies project aims to increase the number of effective teacher residents from diverse backgrounds in underserved schools, districts, and subjects by boosting teacher residency programs across Connecticut, Delaware, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. NCTR will provide scaffolded technical assistance and support to develop and scale 14 teacher residency programs, 10 of which are located at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

LOUISIANA:

The New Orleans SEED program aims to address New Orleans’ persistent teacher shortage problem by focusing on boosting pathways into the profession through the expansion of innovative and promising Grow-Your-Own pathways. Funding will help project partners build a robust, sustainable pipeline of local aspiring teachers to pursue the profession and become the next generation of effective educators in New Orleans’ underserved schools. By 2025, the project hopes to recruit, prepare, and place 550 teachers in underserved schools and have more than 200 high school students in the city’s teacher pipeline.

MISSOURI:

The Community Training and Assistance Center, Inc., a national non-profit organization, is using SEED support for Project Extended Impact (IMPACT) in partnership with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. IMPACT aims to increase Missouri’s supply of highly effective principals to improve teaching and learning, engaging 2,100 principals from across the state. SEED funding will help boost the capacity of Missouri principals to deepen their impact in three key areas: social and emotional learning; accelerated academic learning; and teacher recruitment, development, and retention.

A full list of grantees can be found below:

Today’s announcement further demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing commitment to recruiting and retaining a strong and diverse educator workforce. In August, Secretary Cardona, alongside First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, and Director of the Domestic Policy Council Ambassador Susan Rice convened teacher unions, national partner organizations, and leading job platforms to discuss evidence-based and innovative solutions to close the gap on school staffing shortages. The Department also issued a joint letter with the U.S. Department of Labor to state and local education and workforce leaders encouraging them to take a series of actions to address teacher and school staff shortages, increase teacher pay, and further invest in the teaching profession. Recently, the Department announced additional awards totaling nearly $25 million to help recruit, prepare, develop, and retain a strong, effective and diverse teacher workforce for classrooms across the country through the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant program. The Department also is inviting applications through Oct. 7, 2022 for the Augustus F. Hawkins grant program to support teacher preparation programs at HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Minority Serving Institutions.

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