The University of Saint Francis hosted the initial ACI Diversity at the Blackboard (DATB) Summer Academy, July 22-27, 2007.  Designed for junior and senior high school students interested in the teaching profession, the Summer Academy served the DATB mission to recruit, prepare, and retain youth for careers in teaching.  The five-day Academy program included exploration of teaching as a profession, basic elements of the educational system, critical issues in education, and a hands-on teaching experience.  Forty-one diverse participants from all over the state of Illinois were housed in student residence halls on the University of Saint Francis campus.  Students discussed teaching with ACI alumni and veteran teachers including the Center’s Teacher Ambassador Corps and Golden Apple award winner, Sam Dyson.  Ten ACI colleges shared information about their colleges and resources for candidates in education at a college fair.  College credit was awarded to all participants who successfully completed the Summer Academy.  The Center’s US Department of Education (US DOE) Teacher Quality Enhancement-Recruitment (TQE-R) grant, with additional funding from lead corporate sponsor Citigroup, supported the Academy, enabling it to be offered without charge to participants. 

In 2005, ACI’s Center for Success in High-Need Schools launched its Diversity at the Blackboard initiative through the TQE-R grant.  DATB’s purpose is to recruit, prepare, and retain a new generation of excellent teachers for high-need schools—a teacher corps, currently 15 percent ethnic minority, that more nearly matches the student population (40 percent ethnic minority).  The DATB Internship, Teacher Ambassador Corps, and the DATB Public Education Campaign are other programs that are funded through the TQE-R grant and advance the DATB initiative.

The DATB Internship provides pre-service teaching candidates with real-life experiences in urban teaching.  To date more than 100 ACI member college students have completed their initial clinical experience working in high-need classrooms.  The Teacher Ambassador Corps is composed of energetic ACI member “alum” teachers who work with DATB to speak with high school students, community/city college students, four-year college students and career changers about becoming teachers in high-need classrooms.  Currently there are ten teacher ambassadors across the state of Illinois. 

The DATB Public Education Campaign seeks to recruit men and minorities to enroll in teacher education programs at ACI member colleges and universities.  Different media outlets are utilized to inform the public of this program.  These media outlets include, print, radio, outdoor, and television advertisements.  Leads generated through the campaign were referred to 16 ACI member colleges and universities that designated individuals to receive and process inquiries and expressions of interest.  Currently ACI’s evaluation team is following up with participating campuses to assess member follow-up on campaign leads and campaign outcomes to date.  

ACI’s DATB program also supports a scholarship component.  The scholarships are offered to aspiring teachers.  Currently, $178,000 has been awarded to 76 students in Illinois, through participating ACI member colleges and universities.

For more information about the Diversity at the Blackboard program please contact Charles Mininger.

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