# Teacher Diversity and Retention Act: What It Actually Does

This bill tackles two main problems in American education: the lack of teachers of color and the need to better prepare all teachers to work with students who have disabilities and challenging behaviors.

The first part of the bill creates funding for what are called "Centers of Excellence" at colleges and universities that serve minority students—including historically Black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges, and similar schools. These centers would get federal grants (up to $100 million per year for six years) to improve how they train teachers. The money would go toward things like recruiting and training better faculty, redesigning teacher preparation programs to focus on evidence-based teaching methods, providing mentoring for new teachers, offering scholarships to students who can't afford teacher training programs, and helping new teachers stay in the profession during their first few years. The core idea is straightforward: right now, only 18 percent of teachers are people of color while half of students are, and research shows that teachers of color help all students learn better and serve as important role models.

The second part of the bill funds grants to partnerships between colleges and school districts to train general education teachers to better handle students with disabilities and students with behavioral challenges. These programs would give teachers dual certification in both general education and special education, plus training in social-emotional learning, positive behavior management, and trauma-informed teaching. Teachers would learn how to use techniques like restorative justice instead of suspensions, and how to teach in ways that work for students with different learning needs. Colleges receiving these grants would have to partner with local schools and contribute at least 25 percent of the funding themselves, and they'd be required to evaluate whether their graduates actually teach more effectively.

Teacher Diversity and Retention Act

Gallego, Ruben

Teacher Diversity and Retention Act This bill revises certain grant programs related to teacher recruitment and training. First, the bill reauthorizes through FY2027 and otherwise revises the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence program, which provides grants to establish teacher preparation programs at minority-serving institutions. It allows grants to be used for school leader preparation programs. In addition, the bill consolidates certain grant programs for teacher preparation into a single grant program. In particular, the Department of Education must award grants to eligible partnerships (e.g., high-need local educational agencies and certain programs at institutions of higher education) to expand teacher preparation programs that embed dual certification in special education and training on social and emotional learning competencies and behavior management practices.