David Blazar

Maryland, like many other states, faces a teacher shortage. Furthermore, the number of teachers of color in teaching career pathways is disproportionate to the increasing number of minority students in the state. This disproportionality further amplifies the impact of the teacher shortage on students, as research finds that students of color show better educational and social outcomes when they have access to effective teachers of the same race or ethnicity. Removing obstacles for Maryland h...

Learning to read in the early elementary grades is the foundation on which academic success is built. As a nation, we are failing to provide that foundation to the majority of students-particularly low-income students and students of color-despite a solid research base on teaching reading. Teachers are not being prepared to teach reading effectively, leaving districts to find a solution to address this critical gap in teacher capacity. An ongoing partnership between the District of Columbia ...

Research identifies large benefits of access to same-race/ethnicity teachers for Black and Hispanic students. However, the teacher workforce is overwhelmingly White, and little is known about the system-level strategies that are successful at diversifying the profession. In this Exploration project, researchers will explore 3 "grow-your-own" programs and pathways that school districts and higher education institutions have implemented at different stages of the school-to-career pipeline in t...