• Finding students in high school who wanted to pursue teaching, paying for some/most/all of college with the promise that they would teach in that district.

• Word of mouth in BIPOC community → Belonging + inclusion key.

• Retention + Development Supports → Fellowships, etc.

• Generation Teach (Holyoke).

• Project Coach (Smith).

Challenges:

• How do we get young people interested in teaching?

  • Combine "teacher prep" with another activity (like sports).

  • Get mentors who share the identities of BIPOC students.

• How do we elevate teaching to be on the level of other professions?

Opportunities:

• Work to build mentorship connections for new BIPOC teachers to help navigate White teaching spaces.

• At secondary level, how to inspire young BIPOC people to know about the teacher pathway.

• Need to elevate the profession with families of first-gen students.

• More resources (funding, space). Coaching support in schools.

• Strong "Why" stories.

• Having "The People" to support.

• Training in ELA. More pathways to Cert.

Challenges:

• Time commitment (new teacher meetings, etc.).

• Unpaid practicum.

Opportunities:

• Paid practicum or equivalent while teaching.

• Districts + DESE put $ together and make first-year resident teachers co-teach, time set aside to get coaching.

• Increase para support (pay + benefits).

• Incorporate PD + new teacher trainings into the school day.

• MTEL workshops: Coaching, test info, question types, Prep courses (free).

• Involve academic advisors.

• Vouchers to take test, Vouchers for edprep (prepforward).

• ID candidates for MTEL Flex.

• MTEL ALT → exams from different states you can take.

Challenges:

• Common, easily accessible information on pathways.

• DESE website is confusing. So many pathways, it's confusing to follow.

• Emergency licensure is very discouraging. MTEL timeline takes so long to get results.

Opportunities:

• MTEL timeline: Update results in real-time.

• Funding for MTEL supports.

• Provide grace period for emergency licensur

• Advocacy for oneself in hiring process: How can we teach that skill to young BIPOC professionals? How can people learn to negotiate and interview? (Fear of Bias).

• How can a school leader in the system be able to advocate for hiring diverse talent who bring agency to impact salary? (How to signal to candidate?).

• Required additional certifications may lead to less support for teachers.

• Generational trauma in families & community around education systems & teaching profession.

• Attempt to make job appealing by posting salary or not post if salary doesn't seem high enough. How to make job posting appealing?

• Might not be room to be flexible or negotiate in public system.

• Baked-in known biases in systems.

Opportunities:

• Intentional focus on para educators.

• Amherst para program Paradigm shift.

• UMass Amherst program + funding w/ a focus on paras.

• GSP regional COP.

• Support multilingual paras in getting BA.

• Registered Teacher Apprentice program (DESE).

• District + Ed Prep program apply to DESE together to support paras as apprentice.

• Elevating Educators Coalition: Look to bring in diverse guidance counselors.

• Retention + Development Supports → Fellowships, etc.

• More resources (funding, space).

• Coaching support in schools.

Challenges:

• Honest with families.

• Limited support for paras (excluded from big picture).

• Lack of capacity for IEP + 504 Support.

Opportunities:

• Utilize life experiences towards 120 credits for BA.

• New apprenticeship model.

• Springfield & Westfield State support licensure, provide coaching, regional support.

• Paid practicum or equivalent while teaching.

• Increase para support (pay + benefits).

• Incorporate PD + new teacher trainings into the school day.