Philly officials want to recruit more teachers of color to address staffing shortage

Philadelphia school officials and their partners from the education sector citywide are aiming to add 900 teachers of color to the city’s workforce in the next five years.

They also want to increase the percentage of Philadelphia educators who remain in the profession for five years. Seventy-nine percent of those who teach in the Philadelphia district now stay for five years; officials want to boost that figure to 85% with more and stronger supports for new teachers.

The city has about 200,000 students in traditional public and charter schools, and about 12,000 teachers educating them. But each year, it struggles to fill about 2,000 vacancies.

Members of the Philadelphia Citywide Talent Coalition — a network including the Philadelphia School District, charters, universities, nonprofits, and others, directed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker to address the teacher shortage — gathered Thursday at City Hall to publicly demonstrate their commitment to the work, they said.

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After surveying city educators, the coalition, convened by the nonprofit Elevate 215, found that Philadelphia’s pool of effective teachers is shrinking every year, with Black teachers and other teachers of color departing faster than they can be replaced.

The coalition has recommended fixes including boosting teacher pay and bonuses and providing educators help in managing student loans.

It has begun tackling the work with a marketing campaign, TeachPHL, to attract aspiring teachers, expanded high school programs that encourage students to go into education, teacher residency programs, and programs that support paraprofessionals earning credentials to become full-fledged teachers.

It is also encouraging affinity groups to help teachers feel supported.

Fatim Byrd, a Spanish teacher at Strawberry Mansion High and a facilitator of a Philadelphia affinity group, said it has made a real difference.

“As a Black educator, these spaces have been a lifeline for me,” Byrd said. “Teachers who once considered leaving the profession have found renewed purpose and community. We know that representation matters. When teachers of color feel supported, they stay in classrooms. When they stay, students of all backgrounds benefit — academically, socially, and emotionally.”

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said the district has made some progress in bringing teachers into the system, improving its teacher fill rate two weeks into the school year from 95% to 97%. But in a district Philadelphia’s size, that means hundreds of teacher vacancies.

» READ MORE: The number of Philly teachers without full certification has more than doubled. It comes at a cost.

And “we still have a lot of work to do because we’ve got to support our teachers who are emergency licensed teachers and who’ve not had the benefit of a college of education experience,” Watlington said. The number of Philadelphia teachers without full certification has surged, from about 9% of the district’s teaching force nine years ago to over 22% in 2022-23.

Ayesha Imani, CEO of the Sankofa Freedom Charter School, is thrilled with programs that help build a pipeline of teachers for her school. Nineteen Sankofa staff members are now part of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs on their way to becoming teachers.

“They have hope now,” Imani said. “Because they have a way — a pathway to see themselves from their high school diploma all the way into certification.”

Debora Carrera, Parker’s chief education officer, said officials were delighted with the work.

“We’re putting our city power behind this,” Carrera said. “We have the power, we have the resources, to not only fix the problem but to create better educational opportunities for our students.”