Five public and private historically black colleges and universities will work to recruit and train black males to serve as secondary teachers in underserved cities and towns, thanks in part to a three-year, $1.5 million grant awarded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, which helped to organize the training consortium.
Southern University, Tuskegee University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Alcorn State University and Claflin University are the lead institutions in Project Pipeline Repair: Restoring Minority Male Participation and Persistence in Educator Preparation Programs (Project PR). The program will support academic development, mentoring, and skill training for black males beginning in their junior year of high school, to foster interest and talent in secondary teaching career paths.
Officials say the program will work to eliminate social and economic barriers which limit college entry and completion and contribute to dismal statistics of underrepresentation of black men in teaching. According to SHEEO press release, only two percent of all secondary teachers in public school systems are black men.
The partnership is the second major secondary education initiative involving historically black colleges and universities in the last six months. In October, Virginia State University and Albany State University were announced as part of a $47 million national initiative to help in training principals in underresourced areas.
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