May 2024

Alliance Newsletter

THANK A TEACHER: Celebrating Teachers Throughout Spring

As we prepare to welcome our next cohort of life-changing, purpose-driven teachers to our nationally recognized pathway, expanding access and affordability is on our minds. Like you, we never want finances to get in the way of someone whose dream is to provide quality education to children in nurturing, inclusive classrooms.

At City Teaching Alliance, we know that a tenable financial baseline is essential for our aspiring teachers – as people, and as future career educators. It is also crucial for our students, who need their teachers to be whole and well. This is why we ensure that our incoming candidates have access to a meaningful, evidence-based financial package from the moment they sign on with us. This includes transition funding to ease relocation and preparation burdens, a robust residency-year stipend, microgrants addressing acute financial needs in real time, and access to transformational third-party offerings such as AmeriCorps membership (earning Segal education awards), UNCF Black educators scholarships, and PeopleJoy services to help our educators navigate the ever-changing complexities of student loan repayment and forgiveness.

In this season of Teacher Appreciation festivities, we’re excited to share how our Alliance network can rally to support this important work. This year’s Teacher Appreciation theme, “Together We Will: The Heart of Education,” underscores the collaborative effort among instructional teams, parents and guardians, researchers and thought leaders, and the broader community in fostering a vibrant learning ecosystem. While Teacher Appreciation Day was technically May 7th, several organizations including the National Education Association have declared that neither one day nor one week is nearly enough recognition time. We couldn’t agree more. While some celebrate throughout May, we’re celebrating all spring, with a special focus on expanding access and affordability for our newest teachers.

Here are four great ways YOU can join the celebration. Together, we can ensure that passionate, talented individuals have the opportunity to become exceptional educators, shaping bright futures for generations.

1. GOOD MULTIPLIED! One of the most meaningful ways to thank a teacher you fondly remember – or one inspiring your child, grandchild, or favorite young person – is to make a donation that helps another child have a teacher just as fabulous. Better still, your donation will be MATCHED 1:1 thanks to a generous national partner, AND will provide our aspiring educators with much-needed and appreciated direct financial assistance and related supports to lay the foundation for a sustainable, thriving future as career educators. Donate to City Teaching Alliance HERE and we’ll send an e-card letting your favorite teacher know that a donation has been made to honor and amplify their legacy. AND please share our campaign – spreading the message that exceptional teachers can be celebrated with the enduring affirmation that they are making a difference.
2. RALLY a contact today to become a Summer Institute Corporate Sponsor! These aren’t just any corporate sponsorships, they are mutually beneficial powerhouse marketing partnerships that bring the magic for our aspiring teachers – and for the brands supporting them. Category sponsorship packages are available starting at $5,000, and National sponsorship packages are available starting at $25,000. Sponsorships are available through May 29th!
3. CHECK OUT the #HalfMyDAF challenge! Donor-advised funds are on the rise. Let’s use the power of community and matching grants to put them to work today! If you are a DAF holder or know folks who are, funds can now go further with the possibility of a randomly selected matching grant from a pool of at least $1.8 million. Here’s how to submit grants for matches through June 28th. Don’t want to contribute a full half? That’s fine, too! Our Development Team will work with you to invest in the greatest ROI there is – our children. Email us today to inquire about alternative giving through a DAF, Trust, stocks, or cryptocurrency.
4. FORWARD this newsletter to at least three of your contacts. Your share may be the one that helps the school down the street fill a vacancy, or an aspiring teacher to breathe easier.

WHY ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY ARE  VITAL TO OUR TEACHING FORCE

Teachers are the cornerstones of our education system, shaping young minds and igniting a lifelong love of learning. Yet, a critical barrier – and opportunity – exists: access and affordability for aspiring educators. In accordance with our mission, vision, and values, and in direct response to the voices and lived experiences of our teachers, City Teaching Alliance has lifted our commitment to making our pathway more accessible and affordable as a key area of investment in our 2024-27 strategic plan. By strengthening and learning from our financial package, partnerships, and in-kind supports, we’re ensuring that every qualified applicant has the opportunity to thrive as an exceptional educator in our communities.

Building a Diverse and Effective Teaching Force:
Teacher diversity is a proven lever for student outcomes – for all students, and with unique short- and long-term impacts when Black and Latinx students encounter teachers who share key aspects of their identities and experiences. However, about 80% of public school teachers identify as white, while the student population is much more diverse (NCES 2021). There is evidence that factors such as disproportionate student loan debt are discouraging more would-be Black and Latinx educators from pursuing the teaching profession (e.g., CAP 2019), and analyses cite pathway cost mitigation and financial offerings as actionable opportunities to disrupt this status quo.

Addressing Teacher Shortages:
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the shortage of educators at around 270,000. By making teacher preparation and development more affordable, we open doors to a wider pool of talented, committed individuals. This not only helps fill critical staffing gaps with long-term career educators, but also invites more crucial perspectives and experiences into the work of teaching and learning.

Mitigating Teacher Attrition:
One-third of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years (e.g., Learning Policy Institute, 2023). This constant churn creates instability in our school systems, impacting student, classroom, and school-level outcomes. Making comprehensive, outcomes-focused teacher development pathways like ours more affordable is a direct investment in our educators’ careers – fostering the well-being, expertise, and sense of purpose and connection that can lead to increased retention.

Advancing Intergenerational Economic Mobility:
The teaching profession still offers a sizable amount of overall career and financial security in this new economic landscape. However, the average student loan debt for new teachers is over $56,000 (NEA, 2023), particularly impacting those coming from lower-income backgrounds. By designing toward affordability, we enable more future changemakers to join our rigorous, supportive pathway and build long-term education careers. This creates an intergenerational ripple effect as effective, committed teachers drive direct economic impact through improved educational and life outcomes.

DID YOU KNOW?

• In the decade following the Great Recession and leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher salaries increasingly lagged relative to inflation. Then, any progress going into the pandemic was erased by economic-reopening uncertainty and new inflation surges – setting “real salaries” even further back relative to a decade ago (e.g., Education Next, 2022; NEA, 2023).
• According to Learning Policy Institute, there were more than 1,000 teaching positions unfilled across our four cities at the start of the 2023 school year.
• Per one analysis by Pepperdine University (2023), “teachers with master’s degrees can expect an average increase in earnings of about 10-15%.”

OUR 2024 COHORT IS ALMOST HERE!

Summer Institute 2024 will begin in a matter of weeks, and we are thrilled to welcome our 15th class of aspiring teachers! City Teaching Alliance’s intensive Summer Institute is the first phase of our distinctive multi-year teacher development pathway.

Our newest residents secure and transition to local housing with our support, orient to our cities’ resources and assets, begin foundational clinical coursework and professional development, receive induction support from our expert faculty and alumni mentors, and build powerful connections with their community as they become part of each city’s fabric and long-term generational impact.

Join us in welcoming our 2024 residency class to the City Teaching Alliance family!

We hope you will stay connected with us, our students, our educators, and our schools as we – and our growing network of powerful practitioners – continue to learn, innovate, and co-create the future of teaching and learning in our communities.

We will never share our mailing lists with outside organizations.

Please help us grow our City Teaching Alliance (formerly dba Urban Teachers) family by sharing this newsletter with your friends, business partners, and community thought leaders. City Teaching Alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (EIN 27-0989006). To learn more about us, visit our website at CityTeachingAlliance.org or Click Here to donate.

Donations can also be mailed to:
City Teaching Alliance
8 Market Place
Suite 410
Baltimore, MD 21202

Text-to-Give: INSPIRECHILDREN to 44-321

Contact Lyn Rumage at 410-417-9429 or Lyn.Rumage@cityteachingalliance.org for planned giving, Donor Advised Funds, trusts, or legacy gifts.

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