East Hartford Public Schools welcomed Connecticut State Department of Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker to Mayberry School on Friday as it celebrated the partnership among CSDE, EHPS and the University of Saint Joseph. This celebration recognized the collective, ongoing efforts to recruit and train the next generation of educators in the state.
USJ and EHPS are both partners in the Governor’s NextGen Educators Program which allows undergraduate students enrolled in an Educator Preparation Program to work in schools and count this toward their clinical practice hours requirement. Mayberry is USJ’s partner school.
“This opportunity to elevate our work together, to provide more positive influences for our kids, to support teaching and development for prospective educators, and to provide new learning opportunities for our students is so exciting for us. In just a short time, we’ve seen such an impact on our school,” said Mayberry Principal Joseph LeRoy.
Students at USJ will serve the Mayberry students for three semesters before they are ready to student teach.
“At East Hartford Public Schools, we are delighted and deeply grateful to be building a long-range partnership with University of Saint Joseph. This partnership will allow us to achieve our mutual goal of growing a talented workforce that represents the student population in East Hartford, while giving our teachers the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and lead the next generation of educators,” said Nathan Quesnel, Superintendent of East Hartford Public Schools.
These efforts assist Connecticut in exceeding the State Board of Education’s 5-year goal for increasing diversity in the educator workforce and are a part of the CSDE’s multi-pronged approach to building an educator workforce that reflects the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of its students.
“The State Department of Education values partners like the University of Saint Joseph and East Hartford Public Schools,” said Education Commissioner Charlene M. Russell-Tucker. “Working together to deploy initiatives like NextGen and EdRising, we can inspire future educators and close the existing gap between educators and students of color so the workforce better reflects the diversity of our students and communities.”
These initiatives are also aimed at addressing staffing shortages. NextGen brings highly motivated college students seeking education degrees into classrooms to gain experience as substitutes, providing districts with immediate access to new talent and easing pressures on current teachers.
“Innovative partnerships have been key to the University of Saint Joseph’s approach to helping meet workforce needs in the state, and this collaboration with East Hartford Public Schools is just one way to address the critical need for highly-trained teachers from diverse backgrounds,” said University of Saint Joseph President Rhona C. Free, Ph.D.
In addition to Commissioner Russell-Tucker and USJ President Free, several local and state leaders were also present at the celebration, including State Representative Jeff Currey, Executive Director of the CT Office of Higher Education Tim Larson, East Hartford Mayor Mike Walsh, and East Hartford Board of Education Chairman Tyron Harris.