City schools find partners for teacher diversity plan

Pittsburgh Public Schools said Tuesday that it found two new partners for a pilot program that aims to narrow racial disparities between students and instructors by helping classroom aides become teachers.

Carlow University and Point Park University have been selected to work with the city schools on the district’s Para2Teacher initiative, in which selected paraprofessionals will earn a two-year master’s degree in education online while continuing to work in the district.

Pittsburgh Public Schools planned to launch the initiative in October, but suspended its rollout over concerns about Phoenix-based Grand Canyon University which it chose as its

partner for the program. The district cited Grand Canyon University’s “lack of disclosure of existing litigation” and “relationships with for-profit affiliates” as reasons for ending the partnership.

“Increasing our diversity pipeline and teacher workforce has been on our radar for a long time,” said Robert Harris, the district’s chief human resources officer. “We’re really happy that we’re able to do this now so that we’ll be able to take advantage of an increased pipeline going into the 2022 school year.”

More than 80% of Pittsburgh Public Schools’ teachers are white, demographics that do not reflect an enrollment that is more than two-thirds nonwhite, according to district data.

District officials said they hope the program will narrow that divide by encouraging paraprofessionals — more than half of whom are nonwhite — to become teachers in the district. Those future teachers, district officials believe, already work in Pittsburgh schools — experience that gives them the tools to thrive as teachers.

The school board will vote on whether to approve the program in March. If the program is approved, applications would open this spring for enrollment in the fall semester. The first cohort, which could include up to 33 paraprofessionals, would be ready to begin teaching by 2022.

Pittsburgh Public Schools asked its paraprofessionals last year what they viewed as the biggest obstacle to earning a master’s degree and/or teaching certification. The top reasons were prohibitive tuition costs and the time necessary to complete coursework while working.

The district then asked those paraprofessionals which avenue they viewed as most conducive to earning a master’s degree. The paraprofessionals said either online or a blended online and on-campus approach.

After dropping Grand Canyon University, the district continued to search for partners and homed in on Carlow and Point Park.

Both universities tout being career-oriented and student-centered, as well as understanding the need for diversity.

“The thing that impresses me the most is our faculty — we have people with real-world experience,” said Richard Gutkind, a professor and education director of graduate programs at Point Park’s School of Education. “Almost every professor in our program has been ... in the schools. We understand the problems, we understand the need for a diverse workforce, we understand the needs of children today.”

Ann Bisignani, Carlow’s coordinator of graduate programs, said her university offers similar features to Point Park but also varies in some ways.

“One of the highlights of our teacher education program is the sense of community-building that comes from students being able to engage with our wonderful faculty both face to face and then having the benefit of online learning as well,” she said.

The universities also offered a tuition cut for paraprofessionals, which district officials saw as a key piece of the partnership.

Carlow offered paraprofessionals a 25% tuition discount, and Point Park will contribute $1,500 in scholarships each year to participants.

Grand Canyon University had offered online programming and a 23.5% tuition cut for Pittsburgh Public Schools employees through the program.