September 21, 2020

In Pennsylvania, only four percent of educators are Black. A new partnership between Drexel University’s School of Education, Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, and the Center for Black Educator Development aims to train and prepare Black men for careers as teachers in Philadelphia.

The new “Boys’ Latin Teacher Residency” will create a pipeline of Black male teaching candidates to teach at Boys Latin and other schools across the city. The program is broken down into two areas- a Teaching Apprenticeship program that identifies Boys Latin students who are interested in becoming teachers, and a Teaching Fellowship program that provides the formal education and practice that will result in teacher certification.

The School of Education is training the first three students in the Teaching Fellowship program. They are spending the 2020-2021 academic year working and learning side-by-side with an experienced mentor teacher in their class (currently held online) while taking required teacher certification courses online at Drexel. The students’ tuition is covered by a grant provided by Boys’ Latin.

"We started this program because we know about the dearth of Black male teachers across the country," said David Hardy, co-founder and acting CEO of Boys' Latin Charter School. In urban school districts with large populations of minority students, the need for teachers of color are critical. Recent studies have shown that Black students who have at least one Black teacher showed improvement in reading and math and are less likely to drop out compared to students who did not have a Black teacher.

“The impact Black male educators have on students of color is well known,” said Penny Hammrich, PhD, Dean and Distinguished University Professor for Drexel University’s School of Education. “I am thrilled to work with Boys’ Latin to develop great Black male educators who will become leaders in their classrooms and their schools.”

The Boys’ Latin Teaching Fellows will complete the residency program at the end of the academic year. Once they complete their courses and pass their Praxis examinations, the students will receive Instructional I teacher certification from the PA Department of Education enabling them to be hired for full-time teaching positions at Boys’ Latin or other schools.

Drexel’s Philadelphia Teacher Residency program prepares students for teaching positions in middle level (grades 4-8) English, Mathematics, and Science subjects, and secondary level (grades 7-12) Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, English Language Arts, General Science, Mathematics, and Physics subjects. To learn more, please visit https://drexel.edu/soe/academics/certifications/teacher-certification/teacher-residency-program/.