UNC Pembroke’s Branch Ed project members were invited to share educator preparation bright spots at the Fall Convening of the Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity held September 27-29 in Pomona, Calif.
Last year, UNCP––as a minority-serving institution (MSI) ––received a $400,000 grant through the Branch Alliance for Education Transformation Center to recruit and retain diverse teacher candidates. The School of Education faculty is committed to ensuring our future educators receive the highest quality preparation possible.
School of Education Dean Loury Floyd attended the training along with faculty members Drs. Marisa Scott, Leslie Locklear, Tiffany Locklear and Mabel Rivera.
Cynthia Lewis of the Public Schools of Robeson County and Dr. Michael Riles with Scotland County Schools were also in attendance.
Branch Ed project members Dr. Lisa Mitchell, Nick Vincett, Dr. Kelly Barber-Lester, Dr. Danielle Chilcote and LaMorris Smith could not attend.
Scott and Locklear prepared UNCP’s Individual Transformation Plan centered on quality, sustainability, scale and impact. Data leads Rivera and Mitchell created a three-year baseline data plan to inform the direction of the transformative work. UNCP is partnering with the Public Schools of Robeson County and Scotland County schools. The mission of the work is anchored in recruitment planning, competency development and alignment, practice base experience design, data sharing and progress monitoring.
Within the first year, the UNCP Branch Ed team made several transformative changes within Educator Preparation Programs. Hiring a data specialist has helped to facilitate the creation of an Educator Preparation data notebook and a Brave Educator Dashboard. The California presentation detailed how these changes will cultivate a culture of data empowerment, in which improvements in access and understanding of data and streamlined data-collection processes support continuous program improvement. Data collection and sharing is a bright spot for UNCP.
“Our institution is uniquely positioned to take full advantage of this partnership with Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity and our community partners, the Public Schools of Robeson County and Scotland County Schools,” Dr. Floyd said.
“We are excited to be an example, showing how UNCP uses data to address and inform programmatic challenges disproportionately impacting educators of color that will provide a pipeline of quality teachers for our communities,” Floyd said.
