Project led by:

 Valerie Klein, PhD
 Sarah P. Ulrich, PhD

Teacher quality impacts a child’s education more than any other school-based factor. In a city that serves a majority non-white student population, it is imperative that students have access to highly qualified and certified teachers who reflect the demographics of Philadelphia. To address this need, Drexel University has developed partnerships and programs to increase the number and diversity of certified teachers in Philadelphia.

With the Early Educator Certification Initiative (EECI), we will draw on our experience and existing partnerships to target early educators of color, offering them a well-rounded, rigorous pathway to certification that embeds them in a supportive learning community. Drexel has two committed charter school partners with the capacity to expand to additional schools. This project seeks to prepare 10 participants each year over three years with PA Instructional I Teacher Certification in the Pre-K–4 or Special Education Pre-K-12, leading to a total of 30 certified teachers positioned to serve young learners at the end of the project.