Coppin State University is creating a direct pipeline for teachers of color to work with students with disabilities in Baltimore City and Harford County — offering free tuition and one-on-one mentorship.
Project POSE and Project SEQUEL, funded by a $2.3 million investment from the U.S. Department of Education, will recruit 40 current school staff or community college students from the two local districts over the next five years.
After two years of classes, participants will graduate with their bachelors degrees in special education — and be matched with a personal mentor during their first year leading a classroom.
Seven POSE scholars from Baltimore began their courses this fall. The first batch of Harford County SEQUEL students are expected to begin in the spring, said program director Nicole Anthony.
“We are a small program, and we're growing by leaps and bounds,” Anthony said. “I know there are bigger universities; however, we are changing the lives of so many children in Baltimore.”
LaKeisha Williams, one of the Project POSE mentors, said she didn’t have any support when she started teaching students with disabilities.
“It was hit-the-ground-running, and anything that I learned I had to figure out on my own,” she said.
The classes she took at Coppin State as an undergraduate helped, Williams said. But most of the learning happened once she actually entered the classroom.
“Because we have to remember disabilities present differently in each person, because there are a lot of things that are instrumental in how it displays,” she said. “We’ve got to think about the disability, the behavior, the environment.”
Williams is now a special education teacher at Graceland Park/O’Donnell Elementary/Middle School. She said she’s worked with students who couldn’t read three-letter words, students whose families “discounted them.”
“When you look at the statistics for special education, you see most of the time it’s Black boys,” Williams said. “It’s important that you see someone that looks like yourself, someone that's relatable to you. It gives the students a sense of comfort.”
School districts across the state are trying to increase the diversity of their teacher workforces as part of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The need for more representation is stark in special education classrooms — with over 64% of children with learning disabilities statewide being students of color.
The state doesn’t track demographic data for special education teachers specifically, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Education said. But in general, only 32% of teachers statewide are racially diverse.
K’Yeona Winston, one of the first group of POSE scholars, said the program’s focus on inclusivity is really important to her.
“And being inclusive not just in needs, but also in culture and everything,” she said. “I specifically chose to go into special education seeing my brothers, because I have two brothers with special needs, seeing them go through school, seeing my mom having to advocate for their education.”
Winston works as a paraprofessional at The William S. Baer School in Baltimore, a K-12 program dedicated to serving students with disabilities. She said she’s seen how key it is for students to have a role model to look up to.
“Just being able to show that it's okay to love learning, and it's okay to want other people to love learning as well,” she said.
Coppin launched Project SEQUEL as an extension to POSE in May. Sherron Foster-Moore, the diversity and recruitment specialist for Harford County Public Schools, said the program will help recruit teachers of color to the largely rural and suburban area.
“When we are out and recruiting young professionals, they want to know, ‘Okay, where is that and what is there to do out there?’” Foster-Moore said.
Students of color represent 41% of Harford public school enrollees. But less than 9% of their teachers on staff reflect that diversity.
SEQUEL will help recruit new professionals to the local community college and the district, Foster-Moore said. But it will also help reward and retain those already working in the school system.
“Project SEQUEL is covering tuition, fees, transportation, technology as well as a stipend for childcare. I mean, you can't ask for anything more,” she said. “The whole goal was to take a look at what causes adult learners to start their path to higher education and stop. And so Project SEQUEL has been created to remedy those reasons.”
