Historically Black Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has partnered with the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) Project Pipeline Repair Program to increase the number of male teachers from underrepresented groups.
The School of Education at Southern University recently hosted a week-long residency program for participants in the SHEEO program. During the residency, high school students were engaged daily in academic activities and also received mentoring from local male leaders. The program culminated with a banquet, where the students presented their findings from an Action Research Project. The research projects focused on identifying issues that may discourage students from entering teacher education.The School of Education plans to use the information found in these projects to develop new strategies to enhance enrollment.
“This is an excellent program aimed to build a strong foundation for high school minority males,” said VerJanis A. Peoples, director of the School of Education. “The goal of this project is to recruit and retain minority male candidates to major in teacher education to fulfill the critical shortage of certified minority male teachers in our schools.”