Episode 4: North Carolina's Black Educator Pipeline

Joshua 0:00
I had one black teacher and pre K. And then I only had one black teacher in first grade and didn't see another black teacher until about middle school.

Sissy 0:07
This is Joshua Webb, a senior at Edgecombe Early College High School in North Carolina with aspirations to become a teacher.

Joshua 0:14
Growing up a biracial male. I felt like if I had a teacher at those early stages, or even in the late stages of my educational experience, they would have been a pillar for me to lean on to get advice from because we would have been through similar struggles. That was my driving. Why, like, Why do I want to do this? That was one of the reasons.

Sissy 0:35
You're listening to Vital Voices, a podcast from Corning, exploring the innovative ways companies can be a force for good. I'm sissy CRO.

Millicent 0:43
And I'm Millicent Ruffin. You know, we heard Josh talking about the number of black teachers that he had going through school. And I actually had the opposite experience. The majority of my teachers and elementary, middle and even high school were minorities. My absolute favorite chemistry teacher was a black woman, but it's been the opposite experience for my children. I mean, across the three of them, only one has had a black teacher throughout their education. Hmm, really, why is that? It's actually not that unusual because there is a national shortage not just of teachers, but also teachers of color. For this episode, we're really focused on figuring out how to support that pipeline of students of color interested in pursuing education as a career. We'll be focusing on Edgecombe County, North Carolina. It's a rural county in the eastern part of the state, where many of the residents have not matriculated to college. Corning specifically focuses in this area because we have the distribution center there, that's part of our life sciences business. And we also have a commitment to the communities where our employees live and work.

Sissy 2:15
And I was so happy to be able to speak directly with students and principals and superintendents about education in Edgecombe County. In Edgecombe,

Valerie 2:23
we really do still have the community field that lots of large districts don't have. I can have all my principals in this room, we can meet quickly and talk. So it really is a community.

Sissy 2:35
Let's talk to Valerie bridges, she became the superintendent of Edgecombe County Public Schools in 2017. And the first woman to do so

Millicent 2:42
she was also recently named Superintendent of the Year. And so in coming into this role, Dr. Bridges quickly realized she had inherited some pretty significant challenges as the new superintendent,

Valerie 2:56
we have 14 schools, six schools met or exceeded growth in aid did not. And this is based on Department of Public Instruction. So that's not good. Because if you have 50%, or more than you're considered low performing, so I came in Congratulations, your superintendent. And by the way, your school system is low performing. Okay, so you take a deep breath, and you look at your data path, pulled the principles together, I said, let's look at what we have where we are, and what are we going to do.

Sissy 3:26
Dr. Bridges shared with me about how the principals in her county held themselves accountable and began doing more to support their teachers. They focus more on the students social emotional learning, their self awareness, self management of emotions, their relationship skills, stuff like that.

Valerie 3:42
There's more to teach in than content. You know, I can know the content. But if I can't reach you as a person, we have a problem. And so I think our kids, they felt more comfortable and felt like these are things they're asking me to do that will help me in life. It's easier to learn about things that you get excited about. And I think our principals and our teachers really worked hard on that.

Sissy 4:03
What resulted was a big improvement between the 2016 2017 school year and the 2017 2018. school year,

Valerie 4:10
we went from six schools that met or exceeded 211. We were moving. For next year, we went from 11 to 12. So we doubled our numbers, but we also saw graduation rate increasing. So I think, again, the data is wonderful, but it's the stuff that happens behind the data that matters.

Millicent 4:29
We were very inspired by the approach that Dr. Bridges has taken to, you know, turn things around and her district and just the out of the box approach to innovative education and the willingness to approach education from a student centered point of view.

Sissy 4:50
So Dr. Bridges told me that she initially studied to become an accountant but her career took an unexpected turn. Dr. Bridges mother was a teacher and she taught at the same school as Dr. Bridges saw On, I

Valerie 5:00
dropped my son off at her school. And every day I'd go pat her classroom and I'd sit for a little while and I stay longer and longer. It was so exciting to watch the magic that happens when kids are learning, being able to see kids light up, because they've learned something, I can do something, feeling that self value and self worth. That got me into the field of education. And so I made a switch from accounting into education. I've never looked back. I've never regretted it. My very favorite job has been being a teacher. I love leadership. But kids don't come back to see their principal that was a principal. They don't come back to see the superintendent, but they do come back to see their teacher.

Sissy 5:48
One of the schools and Dr. Bridges district is Edgecombe early college high school and we're going to be focusing a lot on this school in this episode.

Millicent 5:55
Yes so Edgecombe Early College High School is located in Tarboro, North Carolina and it is a part of Edgecombe community college campus. And so students who attend Edgecombe early college high school like Josh Webb, who we heard at the beginning of the episode, actually finished high school with both a high school diploma and an associate's degree at the same time, and so they take a mixture of high school classes and college classes while they're still in high school.

Erin 6:31
Not everybody's ready in ninth grade to declare their intent to get an associate's degree and to make high school a five year journey instead of four. That's met Bristow Smith. I am the principal of Edgecombe early college high school. I've been principal here for seven years. And this is a dream job. We meet a lot of families, many of whom are first generation college goers who see us as an opportunity to springboard their kids into a really cool future.

Sissy 6:57
About 92% of early college students graduate from high school versus the national rate of 69%.

Millicent 7:03
This is a really effective route to matriculating students. And so what we see is the early college movement in North Carolina, which began in the mid 2000s, has now spread like wildfire, and there are over 130 early colleges in the state.

Sissy 7:22
Yeah, I really think that's great.

Millicent 7:26
Edgecombe early college high school currently has about 200 students, and the school follows an application process. It's not as simple as opting into this program.

Erin 7:39
An important thing that separates our school from others is that we serve our entire county so students that attend the early college actually hail from all five of our middle schools, we've received students from the charter school environment, from the homeschool environment, sometimes even from the private school environment. That's important to know because when kids arrive at our doorsteps and ninth grade, we take time to build connections between kids because the incoming freshman class doesn't really know each other.

Sissy 8:04
To get this process of connecting started, Matt told us about a very special program for incoming freshmen that early college has for one week in July.

Erin 8:12
Bridge week is a bridge between middle school and high school. It brings all 40 of our incoming freshmen from that year together. And we work on team building. We work on communication, we do service learning activities with them, we do STEM activities with them, we bring them on to the campus so they understand one what high school is going to be like that to what it's like to be a community college students because every incoming ninth grader who comes to our school immediately becomes a community college student on day one.

Sissy 8:44
You know, during bridge week, all the incoming freshmen take a tour of East Carolina University. That way, they've already visited a college campus before their first day of high school, which I think is really cool. And I wish I had had that opportunity. That is cool.

Erin 8:57
All the research about schools and about student learning indicates that transitions are places where kids can step back or properly managed, you can help them to spring forward. And we really think bridge week isn't a central part of onboarding students to our school. So when the first day of school begins for these kids, it's almost like a family reunion. They now know everyone's name, they now know a little bit about the folks that are going to be in their cohort for the next five years. And there's less anxiety about school beginning. And when you reduce anxiety for students who are transitioning to school, something else really cool happens on the first day. And that is learning.

Sissy 9:38
Now let's focus on the ones who are learning like student Joshua Webb, for example. Joshua told me he didn't plan on going to early college high school. It took a couple of chance encounters with Matt Smith, to really make it happen.

Joshua 9:52
I was swimming practice in my lifeguard training, and he saw me and said Josh, do you remember me and I was like, Of course I do. And he said you should apply to edge come early college. And then I saw him two weeks later and target. And he said, you know, Josh, I really think you should have bought it early college. And I said, Okay, awesome. So I applied early college, and my interview went great, I got accepted. And that was just the journey of getting here. And then it took some really hard work in grit to stay here.

Sissy 10:20
Joshua told me that his freshman year at early college was really challenging.

Joshua 10:24
I did not feel prepared at all, but didn't know how to study but didn't realize I had to study. So my ninth grade year was rough. And I decided I need to do something, you know, to get myself back on track. I think overcoming challenges really can shape you into the person that you that you are.

Sissy 10:40
Remember, at the top of the show, Joshua talked about the reasoning behind why he wanted to become a teacher, it took some time for him to really discover this as his passion.

Joshua 10:49
I had no idea what I wanted to do, I was kind of all over the place like nursing, I thought about law enforcement, I was like, maybe I can change that. I mean, then I fell in love with teaching. So I joined the Teacher Cadet Program, and I am doing that right now. And I'm in love with it.

Millicent 11:03
The Teacher Cadet Program is an excellent way for students to explore teaching firsthand. And so even though Josh hadn't had any black male teachers of his own, he was really excited about becoming that pillar for students who looked like him.

Erin 11:23
Students who might have an interest in teaching deserve an opportunity to explore that interest while they're still in high school. And so we have four Teacher Cadet classes that students complete as part of this program. They work in local elementary and middle schools completing 200 hours of internship experience before they graduate, when they apply for college, if they decide to be an education major, they're going in with their eyes wide open, because they've already had a chance to see themselves in the role of a future teacher. And so there's a confidence that we have of kids graduating from us, that if they go into the College of Education, and if they begin a pathway to become a teacher, that they will follow through with it.

Millicent 12:01
What I really love about this Teacher Cadet Program is it actually does for educators, what so many STEM programs do for our budding scientists and engineers, it exposes them to the field, it gets them comfortable with it. And then when they get to college, they've had so much experience and so much contact with it, that anxiety is much lower. Hmm. A lot of times what helps students thrive is just getting them out of their own way so that they can actually just perform.

Another important outcome of this program is that students really know if they don't like teaching. And they learn that early enough so that they're not three years into college and then decide to change their major. And so while I think it does a great job of exposing students and getting them, you know, comfortable with teaching, it also helps students opt out earlier before the stakes get really high.

Sissy 13:13
What a great way to think about it. I know for Josh, the Teacher Cadet Program opened that door for him. This summer. He taught for the very first time at a local churches summer school.

Millicent 13:24
Oh, what did you teach?

Joshua 13:25
He taught history.

Growing up, I was always interested in presidents loved learning about presidents loved learning about the policies, how the parties changed. So once I decided I want to go into teaching, I realized that history was like the perfect path for me. And one thing I realized is that a lot of students don't enjoy history because they feel like it's in the past and it's not going to affect our present, but I want to be the teacher to show them that you know, history. We need to learn it and understand it to move forward in the present times because a lot of the things that we deal with in America have to do with our past history.

Sissy 13:56
Joshua was getting ready for his fifth and final year at early college.

Joshua 14:00
I will be here at Edgecombe community taking college classes. I filled my schedule up with a whole bunch of histories, which I'm super excited about and then I will be going to college in the fall 2023.

Sissy 14:13
So it sounds like Edgecombe early college is doing a great job at motivating students to you know at least consider pursuing education as a career path. But no. So where are these students going to teach?

Millicent 14:25
That's a great question. And brain drain where students get their education and then they go teach in other areas is actually a big challenge in rural communities.

Erin 14:38
One of the things in a rural community that we're sensitive to is that so often we create these amazing talent pools, these wonderful young people who just are so incredible, so powerful, so ambitious, and then they leave edge come and they never come back. And if you look at population bases in North Carolina, what you'll see is that there are 14 counties that are are growing their population base and the other 86 counties in North Carolina are contracting or shrinking. And so for a school system like ours that wants to recruit highly qualified teachers, we know how important it is to have a really great individual in the classroom that we're entrusting our students to the winds of population demographic change in North Carolina are actually working against us.

We just need great talent that is really thoughtful that's really committed, and that really wants to do what's best for every single child. And so I think really investing in our talent here is just so important that I think that strategy is really going to be critical for us moving forward.

Millicent 15:38
This is Erin Swanson. She's the Assistant Superintendent for innovation and strategic planning and Edgecombe County Public Schools.

Jackie 15:47
I feel like I have the best job ever. Yeah, how many people get to have innovation in their title? Right? Yeah, my work is really about collaborating with district leaders, across departments, with school leaders across all of our schools, and then with teachers on the ground, as well as with students and with community members to rethink what school looks like so that we're better serving all of our kids. I think in everybody's mind, right? There's the sense of what a school looks like and what a school should be, perhaps that served us well at some time. And I think it's always served one group of people better than has served other people. And I think that if we're going to serve every single child, which we absolutely have to do that we really do need to rethink what school looks like.

Millicent 16:25
Matt And Aaron are a great team. Because they're both bringing solutions to the table around how we keep talent in our district, and how we continue to innovate education so that it serves every student Edgecombe County Public Schools had a very high attrition rate over 20% for an extended period of time from 2006 to 2018. About one in every five teachers was leaving the district. And so a few years ago, Dr. John Farley who preceded Dr. Bridges as superintendent learned about a Grow Your Own Teachers Program in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's an initiative that helps community members become highly qualified teachers, and it builds on the roots that they have in the community and encourage them to stay. And here's Dr. Bridges.

Valerie 17:27
When he heard about that, he came back and he shared that with us and we were really excited about it and we thought okay, how can we make this work for Edgecombe? I'm sure

Jackie 17:35
every community says this But I really think it's special about our community that our students have a ton of empathy and a ton of compassion, and I think feel deeply connected to this community. And so when you talk to high school students in Edgecombe County, a lot of them will say I do want to leave edge COMM At some point right? Like I might want to go to college I want to experience something different, but a lot of them will also say I want to come back.

Millicent 18:01
So the leaders in Edgecombe County Public Schools gathered their insights from the students as well as other Grow Your Own teacher programs across the state and really tailored it to meet the needs of their community, thus creating the Edgecombe scholar teaches program at the Early College High School in 2017. So here's Matt Smith again.

Erin 18:27
The scholar Teachers Program is a commitment that our county made to finding pathways for high school students in Edgecombe that want to become teachers to be able to go to college graduate debt free and then come back to teach in our county.

Jackie 18:40
We aim to ensure that if students want to come back to Edgecombe that they have the opportunity to do so that they feel like this is a place that they can thrive and that they can really contribute

Erin 18:50
to our superintendent centered that program at our school because so many of our students are already on a college going track, especially graduating after five years with their two year associate's degree means that most of our kids only need three years in college instead of four to graduate. Scholar

Millicent 19:05
teachers take courses that introduce them to the basics of teaching. And over the course of the Teacher Cadet Program. They work with mentor teachers in the district and complete over 200 internship hours in the classroom. This is a great opportunity for them to really establish their style as a teacher and it also helps really cement them in their pursuit of education as a career. The key to the Grow Your Own Teachers program that Edgecombe County has created is the reciprocity and so for students who commit to coming back to teach in Edgecombe County Public School District, they're offered $10,000 a year for three years while they earn their bachelor's degree. Until when I first met Matt and Aaron. They were in a situation and where they had more students interested in their scholar Teachers Program and committing to come back and teach in the district then they had funding to support. And so in order to help them and ensure that all of these students had a chance to become teachers, we created the edge for tomorrow future teachers grant. And that grant is in line with the $10,000 a year for each student. But what we've committed to do is send 10 students to college to become educators over the next five years.

Sissy 20:39
I felt really fortunate to speak to a scholar teacher over the summer, just as she was graduating East Carolina University. Her name is Jacqueline Dickens, but she also goes by Jackie, Jackie was just finishing an internship teaching kindergarten when we spoke

Jackie 20:54
yesterday driving home so I'm going to cry the last day I'm going to be here. I'm going to miss these kids so much. And I'm coming back, but I'm still gonna miss them because I'm not going to be in the classroom with them anymore. So it's kind of sad, you know, you kind of build that bond. And yeah,

Sissy 21:11
the scholar Teachers program wasn't something Jackie set out to do. She didn't even attend early college when she first learned about the program. She was at another public high school in the County, North Edgecombe High School.

Speaker 6 21:22
I was a junior in high school, Mr. Smith, he brought his staff to come over and recruit students who were interested in becoming educators. It was just a group of students that the principals at that time really saw a future for them. And so I was a part of that group, surprisingly. And I met Mr. Smith there. I was just listening because in my mind at that time, education was going to be a fallback plan for me, I was just going to go to college, and go undeclared, so that I could have that time to explore different majors.

Sissy 21:59
Jackie listened to Matt Smith's talk about the scholar Teachers program, but ultimately, she just decided not to apply.

Speaker 6 22:05
I missed the deadline for the scholar teacher program because I was hesitant. I was so comfortable at my school at that time. I loved the staff there, the teachers there so I was just like, I'm just gonna stay here because I didn't want to transfer to a whole new school and I didn't think I was smart enough to be at the Early College.

Sissy 22:25
Jacqueline's teacher a woman named Miss O'Meara was a little disappointed in this decision.

Speaker 6 22:30
Miss O'Meara ended up speaking with me about it, and how much she believed in me. And she ended up calling Mr. Smith and asking, Could he still allow me to send him my application, so she would not allow me to leave school that day. Until I finished that application,

Sissy 22:46
Jackie did finish the application and was of course accepted into the program. me

Unknown Speaker 22:51
becoming a scholar teacher was definitely meant to be

Erin 22:53
what a mistake it would have been on my part not to recognize the brilliance of this young lady and just the huge heart she had.

Sissy 23:01
What a vibrant young woman. I mean, I just felt like looking across the table at me, she really just did look into my heart. When she was looking into my eyes. She has this like old soul kind of a vibe. And I know that sounds cliche, but I really did get that from her. Like she was just settled in the joy of what she was doing as a student teacher.

Millicent 23:21
Yeah, I felt that way. Also, when speaking with Jackie, I can't even imagine what the transition was like to change high schools as a senior. But that just goes to show how how dedicated and thoughtful she is and making the decision to pursue education as a career.

Sissy 23:43
Yeah, Jacqueline actually did speak to me about this.

Speaker 6 23:46
I'm gonna be honest with you. I did not like it at first, because I was a new kid on the block again, and being the new kid I used to sit at the tables by myself and my mom would come and eat lunch with me every day at the beginning of the year. It was just rough. I cried a lot. But I remember this quote, you got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Sissy 24:11
Jackie grew up in a really small town called Speed North Carolina. Actually, it's so small, it's technically a village in Edgecombe County.

Speaker 6 24:19
I'm so glad that I became a scholar teacher because I've always wanted to serve people going outside of Edgecombe County allowed me the opportunity to see how we could be better.

Sissy 24:35
Jacqueline's college East Carolina University is really only about 30 minutes away from early college and Tarboro but it's in Kitsap County, not in each county.

Speaker 6 24:45
Just saying how the area has grown. That's the place to be but why can't Edgecombe County? Why can't Tarboro is important now, more than ever to really make those investments in this community because we don't want to see this community I dry up in a sense.

Sissy 25:03
When Jackie was growing up, she understood and saw how her parents were really well established in the community. And this had such an impact on her.

Speaker 6 25:12
Both of my parents, they experienced poverty, which is why they valued education so much, because to them, that was the way out of poverty. They did work study, they went into debt just to go to college and really graduate and get that degree. But they were also humble enough to help other people and really give those opportunities to people who kinda may have made mistakes in their life and other people weren't willing to give them opportunities. And just seeing the smiles that people would give them and how happy we would go to the store is so many people be so happy to see them. And they would just talk to them all day. I remember I used to be so mad, I used to hate going to the store my dad because it was like everybody was stopped this, but just seeing that impact that serving people can have on other people really inspired me also,

Sissy 26:03
at first, Jacqueline wanted to go into the military. But now that she's been through the scholar Teachers program, she really feels like this is the perfect way for her to be of service in her community.

Valerie 26:13
When we think about the scholar teachers, they are able to support a classroom that's full of people they know in their community. And to me, that's beautiful. This is Superintendent Dr. Bridges again. So we've asked them to come back for three years, we hope it'll be 30. But if they come back for three years, and they work in the community that they grew up in all of the challenges that we have, they understand those challenges, even if they haven't personally experienced it. They understand poverty, they understand when they say someone's from a certain part of the community, they know what that means. They know some of the struggles have happened there. So there's not this disconnect that has to happen. They are part of this community. And so to me, I think that's the beauty of it is that we're growing our own. We know how important having a quality teacher is in the classroom. That's like the number one thing that makes a difference for children and their lives. Especially when you're thinking about in poverty. And you're thinking about districts that struggle. Having a great teacher who loves you, who cares about you who's from your community, to me, you can't get much better than than

Millicent 27:25
that really is a magical combination. And what's really exciting is that Jackie and two other scholar teachers are returning to Edgecombe this fall to begin their three year commitment as teachers. And so this is the first cohort coming back to teach. And you can imagine how much excitement there was across the district. So many schools were clamoring over who gets these phenomenal teachers.

Valerie 27:57
They already know how to teach they understand what it means. They've got a skill set and this because we've helped create that while they were still in high school.

Millicent 28:07
So the pipeline for this program is strong. There are 10 More scholar teachers in college full time, and another 12 currently in the high school program.

Erin 28:18
So our initial goal was that over a 10 year period, we would have 50 scholar teachers that come back to Edgecombe County and begin to fill our teaching vacancies in the district 50 teachers would be just shy of 10% of our workforce. And I think that that would be a very ambitious but also achievable goal for us.

Sissy 28:35
Dr. Bridges told me she also hopes to attract college students outside of edge COMM

Valerie 28:40
When our students go off to schools, I think some of their colleagues in school will say edge comm so they paid for you to come there supporting you, you go back during the summer, and you work with kids, and you get a little funding for doing that. Maybe that's the place I want to go. Right. I'd like to come there and work and be a part of what is a family atmosphere.

Sissy 29:02
Assistant Superintendent Aaron Swanson is not only excited about filling teacher positions, but also leadership positions someday, two years

Jackie 29:10
out five years out, you know, when their teacher leaders when they are moving into principal shifts when they're moving into district leadership roles. I mean, how cool is that going to be right? There's like a whole cadre of folks that's now willing to say like, you know, we don't have to keep doing school the way we've always done school, we need to think about our students, and then we need to design school for them. And I do think that this group of scholar teachers is going to be well

Sissy 29:30
positioned to do that. As we're getting close to the end of the episode, we wanted to share one last quote for Matt. And this is a message that he really wanted to leave everybody with.

Erin 29:41
Think about the young people that you know, and ask them Hey, have you ever thought about becoming a teacher? I asked that question to young people all the time. Listen to their responses and see how their responses inform your understanding of the profession, your understanding of what people care about these days, and from time to time you If you ask that question enough, you will find somebody who says, Yeah, I have thought about becoming a teacher, tell me more, and be ready for that person.

Sissy 30:10
I felt so blessed honestly, to be there with these people. They were inspiring, welcoming. You could feel how into it, they are in for the right reasons. Like they really care so much about the community about the kids about the school. And what this could mean for everybody. I don't know, I felt really lucky to be able to be there and get these stories.

Millicent 30:30
Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine the excitement and the sense of fulfillment, my utmost have right now to see that first cohort come back. And what I really love about this group of leaders, administrators educators, is that they have a vision for the future. And they're not thinking about short term, how do I solve my teacher shortage for this year? They are thinking about how do I transform this district, so that we ensure that 10 years from now, 20 years from now, every student is being served, every student feels validated, and every student is able to reach their full potential.

Sissy 31:17
And that changes society, they change in their schools than they change in their families, their communities. And that leads to what changes in the world? Yeah, I don't think there's anything else that will change the world like education. I really believe in that. I agree.

Millicent 31:35
I'm glad that we found a team of people who will let us come in and experience it with them, right, because we don't want to just write a check and walk away. We want to be able to sit down and talk to Jackie and talk to the other scholar leaders and really be a part of the transformation and so that's what makes the partnership with Edgecombe County public school district so worthwhile. In our next episode, we will be talking with Dean price from North Carolina a&t where we have another great partnership with the College of Education. You'll get to hear from the Corning scholars at a&t and how we're investing in educators across the state. So thanks so much for listening