Standard 16: The unit must implement effective strategies to recruit, retain, and increase the percentage of candidates who:

(2) are of color or indigenous in proportion to either regional or state K-12 student demographic ratios.

The Urban Teacher Program was created in 2000 by the MN legislature with a mandate for a 50 percent or more enrollment of teachers candidates of color. Since its inception, the UED has been committed to prepare and retain highly qualified racially and ethnically diverse teachers for academically and linguistically diverse PreK-12 classrooms in the Twin Cities metro area, but also meet the UED Mission, Vision and Guiding Principles as well as the University mission and vision which prioritize serving communities of color. UED’s plans, policies and practices have resulted in admitting and retaining teacher candidates who are black, indigeneous, and people of color (BIPOC). As shown in Figure 16.2, the number and percentage of BIPOC enrolled in the UED have been on the increase over the years. The number of students of color increased from 127 in 2013 to 212 in 2020. During the academic year 2020-21, we had 212 students of color or American Indian candidates taking the required coursework ranging from content and methods classes to student teaching (a 67% increase since 2012-13) and they represent about 52 percent of all teacher candidates enrolled in the program. UED intentionally recruits diverse candidates at community colleges, through Metro State’s internal recruitment opportunities (i.e., new student orientations, preview days, welcome days), and through student/peer referrals.

Figure 16.1 Race/Ethnicity of Active UED Majors

Figure 16.2: UED Student Enrollment Trends Comparing SoC and Whites, FY14-21

The UED is proud that we prepare a significantly higher number and percentage of teacher candidates who are of color or American Indian compared to all of the top 15 largest teacher preparation programs in the state (see Exhibit 16.2.1) and greater than the percentage of K-12 students of color and American Indian students in the Twin Cities metro area Economic Development Region (48%) according to the 2021 Teacher Supply and Demand Report. The percentage of TOCAIT candidates enrolled in the UED (58%) is almost five times the percentage of TOCAIT teaching in our economic development region (12%).

Strategies to Recruit TOCAIT Candidates

The UED implements various strategies to recruit candidates who are of color, American Indian:

• Promoting our Mission and Diversity to Prospective Students. Two of our greatest assets are our explicit and top priority to diversify the workforce and the tremendous diversity of our students, faculty and staff. These special attributes are always highlighted during any recruitment efforts.
• Hired new Director of Recruitment, Retention and Induction in July 2022 who has the responsibility to recruit new BIPOC candidates in collaboration with community colleges, schools/districts, and community-based organizations as well as the University Admissions Office, Marketing Office, TRIO, the three Metro State colleges of Individualized Studies, Liberal Arts, and Sciences among others.
• Partnering on Grow Your Own grants with Eden Prairie Public Schools, St. Paul Public Schools, and Burnsville-Eagan-Savage District 191 that have the explicit purpose to diversify the workforce in their districts in partnership with Metro State. The UED was honored to be chosen by Eden Prairie Public Schools to be their higher education partner for the extremely competitive GYO grant they received to support their non-licensed staff to earn licensure. St. Paul Public Schools also honored the UED in writing a portion of their GYO FY22 grant to support their non-licensed staff of color to gain licensure through Metro State. Metro UED was also honored to be chosen by District 191 to be their higher education partner for the extremely competitive GYO grant they received for secondary students in their Education Career Pathway to receive scholarships to attend Metro State. The grant will support up to 50 scholarships to graduating seniors over the next four years, and two-thirds of the students at their school are BIPOC.
• Holding Virtual UED Programs Information Sessions on a monthly basis in collaboration with the University Admissions Office that are advertised on UED’s website. These sessions recruit graduate and undergraduate students for all licensure programs. Names and contact information are collected when prospective students register, and Admissions staff does follow-up with those who attended and don’t attend.
• Implementing an innovative BOGO (Bring One Student, Get One Class for Free) Pilot Program for Metro State. UED Dean proposed the pilot to University Administration after being hired in January 2022 for the position and the proposal was approved with the pilot announced to UED students in late June 2022. This BOGO pilot builds upon the most effective strategy that has grown enrollment in UED over the years–word of mouth from our own students and alumni–and this program rewards those who get new students to enroll in UED programs.
• Raising Money to Support TOCAIT Candidates with Grants and Scholarships because one of the most common questions asked by new students is about the availability of scholarships. The UED and University Development Office have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from CUGMEC grants and generous donors to offer scholarships and grants to BIPOC candidates. For example, in FY22 we were able to provide scholarships amounting to approximately 20 percent of the cost of full-time undergraduate tuition to 160 BIPOC candidates.
• Strengthening Partnerships with Community Colleges to align our licensure programs with MinnState Transfer Pathways and develop clear advising transfer guides for students where system pathways don’t exist. Community colleges, especially Minneapolis College where we are embedded since May 2022, have diverse student bodies that find a home to continue their studies at Metro State.
• Increasing Concurrent Enrollment “Intro to Urban Education'' Offerings in Local High Schools. After starting UED’s first concurrent enrollment College in the Schools partnership with El Colegio High School in Minneapolis several years ago, a partnership with South St. Paul High School has been implemented the past three years, with St. Louis Park High School for the past two years, and with District 191 Burnsville High School starting in the fall of 2022.
• Participating in Internal University Recruiting Opportunities. Given that now approximately half of the overall student body at Metro State are Black, Indigenous or People of Color, the UED also intentionally recruits diverse candidates through Metro State’s internal recruitment opportunities (i.e., new student orientations, preview days, welcome days) for those students new to the University who are undecided about pursuing a teaching degree.
• Collaborating with University Marketing Department on updating web pages and print collateral with our first, professional promotional video, a new University brand launched in spring of 2022, clearer program information, online advertising and enhanced search engine optimization to make Metro State and the UED more well known and attractive with inviting calls to action for applying. The concerted effort to recruit students of color into the program were bolstered by a number of marketing initiatives (Google ads, OTT/video pre-roll (over the top, video streaming), metrostate.edu / organic (direct mail, radio, and outdoor advertising), RightNow/emails, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify and Outlook emails) implemented by the university’s Admission and Marketing that directed prospective students to the School of Urban Education during virtual open house gatherings.

Strategies to Retain BIPOC Teacher Candidates

Key student support practices implemented by the UED to retain BIPOC candidates, include:

• Being Mission Driven with a Primary Focus on Increasing the Number of Effective TOCAIT in Metro Area Urban Schools. Our mission has been clear and unifying for more than two decades, and this focus helps make BIPOC candidates feel a sense of belonging that is crucial for their retention.
• Hiring and Retaining a Faculty and Staff that is Majority Black and People of Color along with White Faculty and Staff Committed to Anti-Racism.  The diversity, experiences and commitments of our diverse faculty and staff helps make BIPOC candidates feel comfortable and provides important mentorship.
• Hired new Director of Recruitment, Retention and Induction in July 2022 who has the responsibility to develop and direct unit activities in collaboration with other University offices to ensure that BIPOC teacher candidates are retained and successful.
• Provide Early and Continuous Intrusive Advising: Candidates are assigned to professional academic advisors, attend preview days and admission orientations upon admission to the university and until they earn admission to the School of Urban Education. After gaining admission to the UED, candidates are assigned to faculty advisors and are required to meet with their advisors to complete Progress Checks #1 & #2. The UED Academic Advisor receives and distributes academic standing automated reports and advisors receive early alert system reports from instructors. In early 2022, UED faculty and staff agreed to implement a R.A.I.S.E. initiative (i.e. committing to provide Responsive, Accurate, Informative, Supportive, and Equitable service to candidates and partners.)
• Teaching Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Starting with pre-professional coursework in Introduction to Urban Education and Reflective Teaching (EDU 200), Multicultural Education (EDU 203) before being admitted and implemented throughout candidates’ required coursework, UED’s culturally responsive curriculum resonates with candidates and its relevance keeps them engaged throughout their studies.
• Providing Financial Support: State Collaborative Urban and Greater MN Educator of Color (CUGMEC) grant funding, university and foundation scholarships, OHE grants for student teachers all provide important financial support to teacher candidates so they can remain enrolled, work less and accumulate less debt.  For example, in FY22 we were able to provide 20 percent tuition scholarships to approximately all of our 160 BIPOC candidates, and ensure that all BIPOC student teachers had 100 percent tuition scholarships if they did not receive an Underrepresented Student Teacher Grant from the Office of Higher Education. We also see implementing our innovative BOGO (Bring One Student, Get One Class for Free) Pilot Program for Metro State as a means of increasing retention for our BIPOC candidates by providing them with a tuition-free course for each new student they help get enrolled in the UED or another program at Metro State.
• Data Analysis: The UED continuously looks at program data from admission to completion with a racial/ethnic lens to ensure we are helping to address the severe shortage of TOCAIT in the workforce, and close opportunity gaps in the Twin Cities metro area.
• Providing Academic Support: The UED faculty has established a “Success Engagement Team” (SET) initiative encompassing a variety of early interventions - writing, assessment, academic coaching, etc., - designed to create opportunities and programming in collaboration with various University student service units that support candidates.

Increasing the Percentage of BIPOC Candidates Completing Their Programs

The UED has implemented retention strategies that have resulted in the increasing completion rate trend for BIPOC candidates who completed student teaching since the Board’s last site visit in 2018 (Figure 16.3). Of the 66 teacher candidates who successfully completed student teaching requirements for licensure during the academic year, 37 (56%) were BIPOC candidates. Thus, we have closed the achievement gap of program completion that troubled UED for years as disparate percentages of BIPOC candidates could not afford to undertake student teaching at the end of their academic program. But the sudden decline in the number of candidates who completed their student teaching was occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of the PreK-12 learning institutions greatly interrupted student teaching; teacher candidates were not able to fulfill their in-person practicum requirements as student-teachers in schools or complete their edTPA portfolios.

Figure 16.3: UED Program Completers by Race as a Percent (%) (FY14–21)

Effectiveness of Recruitment and Retention Strategies to Increase the Number and Percentage of BIPOC Candidates Completing UED Programs

The UED primarily evaluates the effectiveness of its BIPOC teacher candidate recruitment strategies by the number of prospective students who become teacher candidates and maintaining at least a majority of BIPOC candidates throughout the unit. Because of the severe and persistent shortage of TOCAIT in PreK-12 schools and the wide opportunity and achievement gaps that are a result, in part, of a teaching force that doesn’t generally reflect its diverse students, we are being successful with each new BIPOC student who gains admission and enrolls in our program. However, as a leader in the state, the UED cannot be satisfied until we can point to increasing the percentage of TOCAIT in urban schools as Tier 3 and Tier 4 licensed teachers.  Because there are many factors out of the control of the UED that go into a person deciding to seek admission and enroll in coursework to earn a degree and license, we also evaluate the effectiveness of our recruitment efforts by the positive relationships we form with partners that “plant the seeds'' for deeper collaboration and more students in the future. During the academic year 2020-21, we had 170 BIPOC candidates taking the required coursework ranging from content and methods classes to student teaching (a 34% increase since 2012-13) and they represent about 52 percent of all teacher candidates enrolled in the program. This growth has been achieved without a designated program recruiter but largely by relationships and word of mouth about the quality of urban teaching programs we offer.

The UED primarily evaluates the effectiveness of its retention strategies by the number and percentage of BIPOC teacher candidates who complete their licensure programs compared to the percentage of BIPOC candidates enrolled. We are proud that we have for several years now closed an unintentional achievement gap that existed in our unit for our first 15 years of existence when there was a lower percentage of BIPOC candidates who student taught than their representation among all enrolled UED students because of the tremendous financial burden that occurs during student teaching. Due primarily to the funds that we have been able to raise and provide to support BIPOC student teachers, we now consistently have percentages of BIPOC program completers that are comparable to the percentages of BIPOC enrolled in our programs.