May-June Advisor 2021 web

DIVERSIFYING

12 CEA ADVISOR MAY – JUNE 2021

FROM IMMIGRANT TO EDUCATOR: DANBURY TEACHER IS A ‘BRIDGE’ FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS

“What a year to begin!” says Angie Tovar, who embarked on her teaching career during a global pandemic. A 2016 graduate of Danbury High School, Tovar is the first to return to Danbury as a teacher after completing a program designed to inspire minority students to enter the field. She teaches third grade at Pembroke Elementary School, alongside NEA Danbury President Erin Daly. “Angie is part of my grade-level teaching team, and we are so lucky to have her,” Daly says. Born in the southern part of Colombia’s capital city, Bogota, Tovar recalls her parents struggling. “This was the poorer region of Bogota, and my parents could not afford for our family to live on our own,” she says. “We shared a home with my grandparents, and it was hard to afford many things.” Her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was five, and they settled in Danbury, where Tovar and her older sister began learning English in school. Over the years, the two accompanied their parents to DMV facilities and doctor appointments and helped translate bills and other official documents. As a young student, Tovar remembers creating worksheets to help her mother learn English—and her mother predicting she’d become a teacher. Tovar dismissed the thought. At Danbury High School, however, she joined a program—a partnership between the state, Danbury schools, and Western The legislature is considering a bill that would bring more teachers of color into Connecticut schools by promoting the teaching profession as a career option to high school students, establish a minority candidate residency year program, and require implicit bias and anti-bias training for all school district personnel responsible for hiring. “A diverse teaching profession is crucial to the vitality, success, and excellence of all of our schools,” CEA Vice President Tom Nicholas told legislators during a public hearing on Senate Bill 1034: An Act Concerning Minority Teacher Recruitment and Retention. “Having teachers of color improves the experience of students of all racial backgrounds,” he noted, adding that the benefits for students of color—which include increased academic achievement and decreased disciplinary and dropout rates—are particularly significant. Through a grant received from NEA, CEA is working to develop future educator programs in middle and high schools modeled after Future Educators of Diversity, a successful

Connecticut State University—that not only encourages minority students to become educators but also provides college credit and real- world experiences to get them there. It was during one of those experiences—delivering lessons to an elementary class—that a teacher remarked how much Tovar seemed to enjoy what she was doing. “They let you try a 30-minute lesson in the classroom, so you can see how you feel around children,” she says. “Being able to try it was great, and it’s not something you often get to do in high school.” program, she recalls, teachers talked a lot about how minority students did not have much representation in their classroom teachers. “They said it’s important to get people in front of the classroom who look like their students. You play a crucial role for those students; they look up to you. That really got me.” Tovar, who is bilingual, often serves as a bridge to families of English learners. Nearly half of Danbury’s students are Hispanic or Latino, but only about 7.6 percent of staff identify as such. Two of her 18 students immigrated to the United States over the past year, while about seven others are English learners. Her ability to speak Spanish is key for parents too. “I know what it was like for my parents to come and try to navigate a whole new system without knowing the language,” Tovar says. “There grow-your-own program in West Hartford. Students who participate in that program and graduate from college with teaching degrees are guaranteed an interview with West Hartford Public Schools. “We have had some of those students who went through the program get hired and work in the district, so it’s effective and needs to be much bigger and broader,” said State Representative Tammy Exum, a That’s when it clicked. “My mother was right.” Experience pays off In the

NEA Danbury President Erin Daly (right) teaches third grade at Pembroke Elementary School alongside first-year teacher Angie Tovar, who came to the profession through a program that encourages students of color to be leaders in education.

are so many benefits I can offer to my students and their families because of my own experiences. For my students who just arrived from other countries, I am able to explain the rules in a way that they understand, and that makes them feel so comfortable. I can also get on the phone with their parents when they reach out, and we can communicate comfortably. That’s huge when you’re new to a country. I can tell my students, ‘I was once in your shoes. I did this, and you can do it too.’” Union support “What a great inspiration Angie is for future educators across the state and for her being educators and then having that experience and exposure.” Hiring and retaining In written testimony on SB 1034, Westport literacy coach Faith Sweeney called for special emphasis on retaining teachers of color. “I work in a predominantly white community that is increasing in diversity as we speak,” she explained, “and it is not enough to recruit teachers of color without also considering ways to retain those teachers in communities where they might encounter racial tension, bias, and discrimination.” She added, “The importance of having the teaching population mirror the student population is vital. All students, Black and white, need to know how to interact with people who do not look like them, act like them, or speak like them.” Preparation, retention One way CEA is working to bring more teachers of color into the profession and retain them is through its work with the CREC Teacher Residency Program. Now in its second year, CREC’s TRP provides financial support for teaching candidates as well as mentorship by teachers. Ushawnda Mitchell, CREC TRP coordinator, told legislators, “The alternate

colleagues, including those of us with many years of experience,” says CEA President Jeff Leake. “We are happy that she hit the ground running as a member of our union, and we welcome her to NEA Danbury, CEA, and NEA, where she professional journey. Teachers like Angie are a prime example of why it’s so important for us to create ‘grow-your-own’ programs, where students who are raised and taught in a community are encouraged to come back and serve as teachers and role models for future generations of students.” will continue to be supported through every phase of her

RECRUITING, SUPPORTING TEACHERS OF COLOR

“I work in a predominantly white community that is increasing in diversity as we speak, and it is not enough to recruit teachers of color without also considering ways to retain those teachers in communities where they might encounter racial tension, bias, and discrimination.” Faith Sweeney, Westport literacy coach

Ushawnda Mitchell is the program coordinator of CREC’s Teacher Residency Program.

former elementary school teacher and West Hartford Board of Education vice chair. “I’m really grateful to see this legislation before us and to know that CEA is working to replicate programs like West Hartford’s. It’s a wonderful example of being very intentional in growing a program and tapping into high schoolers who may not think of

Connecticut has faced when it comes to diversifying its teaching staff. The program allows candidates to earn a salary during their yearlong residency, and those who successfully complete the program are guaranteed a position. High-quality teacher preparation is key to retention.” As of September 2021, Mitchell reported, the program will have put 25 new teachers of color into CREC classrooms. If the legislature provides funding for the program to expand from one site to four, the program could create an additional 60 teachers of color next year.

Ask your legislators to support SB 1034 and help create a teaching force that reflects our student population.

route to elementary certification has been

designed to address the many barriers the State of