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December 11, 2019
Learning and Research

Diversity in the Classroom

Wittenberg Celebrates Inaugural Year of Pipeline Partnership

Celebrating the inaugural year of Strengthening Ohio鈥檚 Teacher Pipeline Through Partnership, the Wittenberg/Yellow Springs Teacher Pipeline Scholars and Yellow Springs Teacher Mentors were recognized at a recent dinner at the Bayley Alumni House. 

This project exists to identify and develop students interested in teaching who come from underrepresented groups with a goal of increasing the number of teachers from underrepresented groups in the nation鈥檚 schools. The project was made possible thanks to $20,000 in seed funding from the Strengthening Ohio鈥檚 Teacher Pipeline Through Partnership grant program, administered through the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) and the Ohio Department of Education (ODE).

Wittenberg and Yellow Springs Exempted Village School District (YSEVSD) are working collaboratively now and during the next few years to increase the number of underrepresented teachers employed by YSEVSD and the number of underrepresented students enrolled in Wittenberg鈥檚 Teacher Education Program (WTEP). Additionally, the funding provides training of both WTEP and YSEVSD faculty with regard to mentoring students from underrepresented groups.

Four first-year Wittenberg students - Erika Henry 鈥21 of Springfield, Ohio; Malina Hampshire 鈥23 of Dayton, Ohio; Lauren Hernandez 鈥23 of Hilliard, Ohio; and Kira Frieson 鈥23 of Muncie, Indiana - were selected from nine applicants to participate in the Wittenberg/Yellow Springs Teacher Pipeline Project. These four students were recognized along with their Yellow Springs teacher mentors, including Mikasa Sims, Debra Mabra, and Chris Sidner.

Two of the Pipeline Scholars, Henry and Hernandez, plan to major in early childhood and/or special education, while Hampshire plans to become a secondary social studies teacher, and Frieson plans to become an art teacher. 

鈥淭hese mentors will be working with the Pipeline Scholars for the remainder of their time at Wittenberg to engage in book studies, professional mentoring, and collaborative learning opportunities,鈥 said Wittenberg Pipeline Coordinator Brian Yontz, associate professor of education and department chair at 麻豆传媒色情片. 鈥淭his dinner also recognized Erykah Andrews 鈥20 (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) and Saqqara Goins 鈥21 (Cincinnati, Ohio) as lead visionaries of the project. Andrews and Goins provided much of the vision for the mentoring focus of the project. Diversifying the pipeline of educators poised to take on positions in area schools and beyond is essential if we are to fully achieve equity and provide an effective learning environment for all students 鈥 one with authentic representation of the student population at the core.鈥

Yontz and John Gudgel, YSEVSD Pipeline coordinator, hosted the dinner. Other attendees included Michelle Mattson, Wittenberg provost; Terri Holden, YSEVSD superintendent; and Jack Hatert and Matt Housh, YSEVSD principals.

Research conducted for the funded grant proposal affirms the power of such diversity in the classroom. Additionally, researchers at the University of Connecticut, Johns Hopkins University, American University, and the University of California-Davis recently found that 鈥渂lack students who鈥檇 had just one black teacher by third grade were 13 percent more likely to enroll in college 鈥 and those who鈥檇 had two were 32 percent more likely.鈥 Their findings were published in a working paper titled 鈥淭he Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers鈥 from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Applications for next year鈥檚 class of Pipeline Scholars will open during the summer of 2020, with the project focusing especially on Wittenberg students from the class of 2024.

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About Wittenberg

Wittenberg's curriculum has centered on the liberal arts as an education that develops the individual's capacity to think, read, and communicate with precision, understanding, and imagination. We are dedicated to active, engaged learning in the core disciplines of the arts and sciences and in pre-professional education grounded in the liberal arts. Known for the quality of our faculty and their teaching, Wittenberg has more Ohio Professors of the Year than any four-year institution in the state. The university has also been recognized nationally for excellence in community service, sustainability, and intercollegiate athletics. Located among the beautiful rolling hills and hollows of Springfield, Ohio, Wittenberg offers more than 100 majors, minors and special programs, enviable student-faculty research opportunities, a unique student success center, service and study options close to home and abroad, a stellar athletics tradition, and successful career preparation.

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