Oregon Teacher Pathway: Responding to National Trends

ABSTRACT

National population trends demonstrate a shift in the U.S. ethnic population, similar to changes in the ethnic landscape of U.S. public schools. However, the teaching landscape has not adjusted to align with student demographics. Research highlights the academic and social/emotional benefit for students of color who experience having a teacher of color during their education. Therefore, it is valuable to consider frameworks for increasing the number of teachers of color in the educational landscape. Although there are initiatives for supporting these efforts in urban communities, rural communities often are not seen as having much need in this area. The authors of this article present literature and findings on the impact and needs for diversifying teacher education, and then outline a self-study of the Oregon Teacher Pathway (OTP) as a framework that takes into consideration promising practices for recruiting and supporting preservice teachers of color in rural eastern Oregon and other rural and urban communities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amanda A. Villagómez

Amanda A. Villagómez is an assistant professor of education and a reading program coordinator at Eastern Oregon University. Her professional interests are effective support for English Language Learners, biliteracy development, adolescent literacy, and literacy teacher preparation.

Donald Easton-Brooks

Donald Easton-Brooks is the Dean of the School of Education at the University of South Dakota. His research and work on educational policy, teacher effectiveness, and diversifying teacher education contributed to creating the Oregon Teacher Pathway program and to Chairing the Oregon Educator Equity Advisory Group.

Karyn Gomez

Karyn Gomez is the Associate Dean of the College of Education at Eastern Oregon University. Her research interests are in literacy education and teacher preparation.

Tawnya Lubbes

Tawnya Lubbes is an assistant professor of education, an ESOL program coordinator, the Director of the Center for Culturally Responsive Practices, a curriculum designer for Oregon Teacher Pathway, and a teacher mentor at Eastern Oregon University. Her research focuses on culturally responsive pedagogy, teacher identity development, ESOL best practices, and online pedagogy.

Kristin Johnson

Kristin Johnson is the Graduate Education Advisor at Eastern Oregon University. She is a member of the Oregon Teacher Pathway Program (OTP) planning team and serves as the OTP College Mentor Coordinator.