The Cleveland Metro School District is getting some financial help to recruit and help keep good teachers.
A grant secured by the Mid-American Conference (MAC) gave a $1 million dollars to (CMSD) over a five year period for ‘TEACHing Cleveland,’ a program that focuses on teacher recruitment, mentoring and retention.
“We can build a program that focused on retaining and attracting top teachers,” said MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher.
The College Football Playoff (CFP) Foundation contributed $500,000. The MAC also secured $250,000 from The George Gund Foundation over the next five years and $150,000 from the Cleveland Foundation over the next three years. The MAC will reapply for additional funding from the Cleveland Foundation in three years.
This grant provides the CMSD and the Cleveland Teachers Union an opportunity to collaborate in recruiting, developing and retaining new teachers to best support the Cleveland area students and community.
As for the newer teachers, the program is also looking to provide mentoring opportunities with veteran teachers.
“New teachers really need to see great examples of high quality teaching,” said Lori ward, CMSD Chief Talent Officer
Raghad Bteitbet gave an example of the struggles she faced, as a new teacher.
“There was less attention from the house, from the home like he was not doing his work his homework, and he was not reading every night,” she said.
However, Bteitbet said the student made great strides within the school year, by receiving more individual attention.
“We have more collaboration with the parents, and we integrated technology in teaching him,” she said. “We moved from writing the first letter of the word to comprehending and writing a whole sentence.”
The teaching Cleveland program will develop programs to assist in the recruitment of highly skilled teachers, foster new teacher development, focus on culture, expose teachers to successful practitioners and increase retention rates.
