Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
Assemblywoman PAMELA R. LAMPITT
District 6 (Burlington and Camden)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywomen Jasey and Vainieri Huttle
SYNOPSIS
Establishes “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program;” appropriates $50,000.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing a “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program” and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Commissioner of Education shall establish a three-year “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program.” The purpose of the program is to create mentoring relationships between male students of color, who are enrolled in educator preparation programs at senior public institutions of higher education, and male teachers of color currently employed by a school district. The commissioner shall select to participate in the pilot program one or more senior public institutions of higher education, which offer an educator preparation program, and one or more school districts that each employ at least one male teacher of color.
b. The commissioner shall, based on a competitive application process, select 10 male students of color enrolled in an educator preparation program at the senior public institutions of higher education selected for participation in the pilot program and 10 male teachers of color from the school districts selected for participation in the pilot program. A student shall be eligible for the pilot program if he is enrolled in the final year of an educator preparation program at a participating institution.
c. The commissioner shall pair each participating male student of color with a participating male teacher of color. The teacher shall serve as the student’s mentor through the student’s final year of the educator preparation program in which he is enrolled and the first two years of his employment as a teacher.
The school district in which the mentoring teacher is employed shall commit to hiring the participating student with whom the teacher has been paired, upon the student’s graduation from an educator preparation program.
d. A male teacher of color participating as a mentor in the pilot program shall receive a stipend of $5,000 for each year in which he participates in the pilot program.
e. At the conclusion of the pilot program, the commissioner shall submit a report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on the implementation and effectiveness of the pilot program. The report shall include the commissioner’s recommendation on the advisability of the program’s continuation and expansion to additional school districts and senior public institutions of higher education in the State.
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Education $50,000 to establish the “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program.”
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the three-year “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program,” which is to be developed and operated by the Commissioner of Education. The commissioner will select one or more senior public institutions of higher education, which offer educator preparation programs, and one or more school districts that each employ at least one male teacher of color, to participate in the pilot program.
Under the pilot program, the commissioner will select 10 male students of color from among the senior public institutions of higher education selected for participation in the pilot program and 10 male teachers of color from the school districts selected for participation in the pilot program. To be eligible for the program, a student is required to be in his final year of an educator preparation program.
The commissioner will then pair each selected student with a current teacher, who will serve as the student’s mentor through the candidate’s last year of his educator preparation program and the first two years of the student’s teaching career. A school district participating in the pilot program will commit to hiring each student participating in the program, upon each candidate’s graduation from an educator preparation program. Under the pilot program, a teacher will receive a stipend of $5,000 for each year of participation in the pilot program.
Research has shown that, while about 50 percent of the student population in public schools across the United States is nonwhite, only 20 percent of teachers are nonwhite. In addition to the disparities seen in the existing teacher workforce, studies have shown that, relative to their white counterparts, larger percentages of teachers of color tend to leave the teaching profession. Partnering teacher candidates of color with experienced male teachers of color in a mentoring relationship, and providing the candidates with a job as a teacher after graduation, will not only offer those individuals a defined pathway to the teacher workforce but may also help to retain them in their positions as teachers.