The UTeach Institute is supporting HBCUs in developing permanent STEM teacher preparation pathways to produce more Black teachers who will expand educational opportunities for Black students.
Contact Katey Arrington at arrington@uteach.utexas.edu or more about how you can support this important work.
Addressing Inequities
Racial inequities persist in STEM. Black Americans are three times less likely than White Americans to hold jobs requiring advanced degrees in STEM, and this gap has remained almost unchanged for 15 years. Overall, Black students are underrepresented in undergraduate STEM degrees, and they tend to leave STEM degrees at higher rates than Black students in other majors, even when they are academically well prepared. The culture of undergraduate STEM must become more welcoming and supportive.
Research shows that student academic performance, confidence, and behavior improve when there is a demographic match between teacher and student. Currently, while 15% of K–12 students are Black, only 7% of the STEM teacher workforce is Black.
Addressing STEM pipeline issues must begin with the production of high-quality STEM teachers.
Leveraging Strengths
HBCUs comprise just 3% of colleges and universities in the U.S. but produce 24% of Black students with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields and 25% of Black students with bachelor’s degrees in education.
UTeach is a nationally recognized program proven to prepare secondary STEM teachers who stay in teaching longer, improve student performance in math and science, and influence students to enter STEM fields. 55 universities in 23 states and the District of Columbia have UTeach programs, and together they have produced more than 8,300 graduates.
Combine the ability of HBCUs to reach talented students with the strength of UTeach’s program model and national network, and together we can produce more teachers uniquely prepared to teach STEM subjects—teachers who majored in STEM fields and completed UTeach’s teacher preparation program at the same time.
Universities
We’ve created a robust community of teachers and university faculty to help provide support and assistance starting from day one. Join our community.
Funders & Policy Makers
We are transforming STEM education to create the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists. And we need your help to do that.