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School of Humanities, Education, Justice & Social Sciences

Pathways to Teacher Diversity

The Pathways to Teacher Diversity (PTD) program creates channels for diverse undergraduate students who will be invested in serving as educators in their local communities.

How Pathways to Teacher Diversity Started

Our schools grow increasingly more diverse every day. Our educator workforce needs to reflect that. The more students see themselves in their teachers, the more likely they are to be successful in school and pursue education as a career. Professor Claudia Rinaldi searched for an approach to help diversify the teaching field and, based on her research, developed a unique curriculum of mentorship and parent communication for diverse high school students.

The Process

Since 2015, Lasell University partnered with high schools in Massachusetts to support students' interest in becoming teachers. The program recruited high school staff to identify diverse students with promising college careers in teaching. The program worked with diverse education students at the college to identify how they navigated the high school to college transition and how they are succeeding as they get closer to graduation. The program then created a mentoring curriculum in those areas that can be used to ease the way for future diverse students preparing for college and teaching careers. We pair mentors-Lasell undergraduate education students-with high school students through in-person sessions on campus and at the high schools and online experiences.

Pathways in Action