Study.com: Keys to the Classroom
Keys to the Classroom is an education initiative created by Study.com to help combat the teacher shortage across the nation and diversify America's teacher pipeline. This article discusses how they are addressing the crisis with the help of 25+ institutions.
Keys to the Classroom: Where did we start?
Research shows that students of color experience many positive benefits when they have at least one same race/ethnicity/identity teacher. These benefits come in terms of higher-performing academic outcomes, self-esteem, high school graduation rates, college persistence and more. We also know that state credentialing exams for aspiring educators of color can be one of the biggest barriers to becoming teachers.
In 2021, we created our educational initiative Keys to the Classroom to directly address these issues and to help aspiring educators pass their tests and start teaching. Through Keys to the Classroom, we donate a year of access to our online courses to ensure educators from diverse backgrounds have everything they need to succeed.
Results to date:
Since we launched Keys to the Classroom a year ago, we have built partnerships in 20 states across the country. In addition to growing this new community, we have also seen the following accomplishments:
- 25 total programs to date and growing (TNTP, Teach.org, Tennessee GYO, Vt NEA, Center for Black Educator Development, and many more)
- 50% of recipients identify as people of color.
- 1/3 identify as African American (5x higher than the national teaching corps representation at 7%!)
- More than 60% identify as first-generation students
- Recently won Fast Company Most Innovative CSR Initiative
Some of our current partners
What we’re doing now?
Since starting the initiative, we have built a coalition of over 25 institutions (including State DOE’s/Grow Your Own programs, Unions, National nonprofits, MSI’s, etc.) to target donations of our teacher test prep materials and share knowledge about what tools are working.
We are building community, collecting data and in conversation about– with a specific focus on alternative educator pathways, especially those that focus specifically on building a more diverse teacher pipeline.
We are interested in growing this program and would love to hear your thoughts.
