A positive and welcoming school environment is a foundational aspect of student success that provides both physical and emotional safety for all students. A growing body of scientific evidence links SEL to improved academic performance. It fosters a sense of self-efficacy while boosting self-confidence and a sense of belonging. This literature…

Maintaining racially and economically integrated schools is crucial in fostering an equitable education environment and carries tremendous academic and social benefits for students and the community. Erica Frankenberg, Ed.D., Pennsylvania State and Director of the Center for Education & Civil Rights, provides integration strategies by and for…

This literature review summarizes research and policy considerations regarding the connection between housing and school segregation. This relationship was an early and consistent theme in civil rights law, emerging in key school desegregation cases in the 1970s and in implementation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. But since that time, the divide…

Equitable education requires racially, and economically integrated schools staffed by skilled teachers who are adequately prepared to teach in diverse classrooms. This summary includes best practices reflecting the concerted efforts of communities across the country working to pursue integrated communities reflecting the rich diversity in the…

Grow Your Own (GYO) educator programs are a potential strategy for districts and universities to employ to help recruit and retain teachers of color. When designed within an asset-based framework, they emphasize equitable approaches and critical perspectives that combine the powerful roles of "homegrown" teachers, culturally-relevant…

For the past two decades, efforts to desegregate schools have largely failed (Orfield & Frankenberg, 2014). Communities across America continue to re-segregate across racial, ethnic, and class lines. Today, even many desegregated schools fail to provide an integrated schooling experience in the classrooms and in other programs and activities.…

Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher programs help address teacher shortages, retention issues and teacher diversity by engaging in a variety of strategies that aim to recruit teachers from local communities in hopes that the pool of candidates will increase in diversity and will be more likely to stay teaching in the community. This is a summary of a…

Research illustrates the importance of supporting a pipeline of teachers of color at every stage of the teaching career, from preservice to veteran teaching status. While more teachers of color are being recruited than in years past, their turnover rates are high, in part due to inadequate preparation and mentoring, poor working conditions, and…

This literature review provides an overview of the research on Grow Your Own (GYO) educator programs as a strategy for states and district to employ to help recruit and retain teachers of color. It emphasizes equitable approaches and critical perspectives that combine the powerful roles of "homegrown" teachers, culturally-relevant…

Recruiting and retaining a diverse teacher workforce that includes teachers of color is crucial as teachers of color bring distinctive experiences and perspectives that support the learning of all students. However, faced with a national teacher shortage, schools across the country are struggling to hire a workforce of qualified educators that…

The reasons minority students are subject to exclusionary discipline more often than others are varied, but many experts agree that they often have little to do with the students themselves. Large rates of suspensions and expulsions tend to result from discipline policies in need of revision that are exacerbated by numerous administrators and…