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UC Riverside has received a $1 million grant that it will use to help address California’s teacher shortage, and the state’s need to diversify the teachers it does have.
The donation, from the Inland Empire Regional K-16 Education, will also help pay for a program that studies poor academic performance among minorities and lack of Black and Hispanic teachers in the region’s K-12 schools, according to a statement on the university’s website.
“As our population has diversified over the past few decades, it is critical that our workforce diversifies along with it,” said Raquel M. Rall, associate professor and associate dean of strategic initiatives in the UC Riverside’s School of Education. “This is especially true in the classroom, where diverse experiences, backgrounds, perspectives, and ways of knowing enhance the learning environment.”
The university will work with Coachella Valley Unified School District, College of the Desert, Riverside Unified School District, and Riverside City College “to attract, support, and provide a clear path for high school students who want to become teachers in the communities where they grew up,” according to the statement.
