Dallas ISD is partnering with the University of North Texas Dallas in effort to recruit more males of color to teaching as a profession.
UNTD’s initiatives in this area includes the UNTD School of Education’s THRIVE (Teach Hope Respond Inspire Value and Empower), as well as a recent partnership with Call Me Mister, a 20-year-old national program started by Dr. Roy Jones at Clemson University. The mission of the Call Me MISTER® (acronym for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models) Initiative is to increase the pool of available teachers from a broader more diverse background.
The purpose of this partnership between Dallas ISD, UNT, and Clemson is to create early pipelines for emerging teachers. Dallas ISD PTECH students in the education pathway have the opportunity after graduation to attend UNT Dallas and come back fully certified and teach at Dallas ISD schools.
“Research shows that students who have teachers that look like them have higher rates of success,“ said John Vega, deputy chief of Dallas ISD’s Human Capital Management (HCM).
“It was exciting to see a Dallas ISD teacher, Eric Hale, become the first Black male Texas Teacher of the Year,” added Lisa D. Hobson, PhD, Professor and Interim Dean of the UNT Dallas School of Education. “He is an inspiring and empowering example and we want to build on that.”
Dallas ISD is being strategic and innovative when recognizing quality teachers like Eric Hale with the Teacher Excellence Initiative. Hale is one the district’s highest paid teachers due to the TEI, allowing him to stay in the classroom.
“This is a triple win for the men who choose to pursue this calling. They can make a difference in the lives of students, have a stable career, and have the potential for high earning within Dallas ISD,” said Hobson.
The district’s PTECHs with educational pathways include Sunset High School, W.T. White High School, W.W. Samuel High School, and Bryan Adams High School. Meanwhile, Lincoln High School is opening an education pathway in the fall of 2021.
Current eighth-grade students who are interested in the PTECH education pathway should visit www.dallasisd.org/choosedallasisd for more information and to apply.
This is a rigorous career for our best and brightest and it can come with strong monetary incentives within Dallas ISD. Hobson wants young men to know: “This is a calling. This is an opportunity. This is a destiny.”
On a related note, five men are set to be part of the spring cohort of The Adjunct Teacher Dallas Residency Program, an initiative aimed at recruiting Black male professionals to put them on the path toward becoming licensed teachers who will lead classrooms the next semester.