Dive Brief:

• To account for projections that U.S. children will be majority-minority by 2020, many teacher education programs are tailoring instruction to the specific needs of this rising student population.
• The Hellenic American University recently announced it will offer new online classes in ​Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Participants can earn a certificate in TESOL Diploma/Endorsement or a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics.
• The University of Pittsburgh also announced a new certificate program designed to bridge cultural divides. According to a release, a new post-baccalaureate certificate will concentrate on urban education, with hopes of "provid[ing] training to strengthen classroom relations between educators and diverse student populations."

Dive Insight:

"In America’s classrooms, a cultural divide exists between teachers, who are most often white, and a student population that continues to expand in ethnic diversity," a press release from the University of Pittsburgh stated, saying the new program intends to "bridge such divisions."

One organization, Teach for America, has particularly come under fire for a lack of cultural training for new teachers; TFA placed a larger focus on recruiting more minority candidates after being bombarded with criticism for placing a majority-white teaching force in schools attended largely by students of color.

In New York, State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher and State Education Department Commissioner MaryEllen Elia recently launched TeachNY, an inititative designed to bolster diversity recruiting efforts in the state's teaching force and bolster training and professional development for teachers of colors to help bridge the gap.

With social-emotional factors becoming increasingly important in the education landscape, training teachers to address biases will be critical to their ability to nurture the social-emotional needs.