Incentive Grant Spotlight: Bowling Green State University, Northwest Ohio Center for Excellence in STEM Education & Washington Local Schools
Fostering a culture of innovation helps to promote new ideas and to rethink ways to address current barriers to higher levels of learning. As a way to explore and incentivize promising practices to redesign educator preparation programs, the Ohio Deans Compact awards grants through the Incentive Grant (IG) Program. Using a competitive request for application (RFA) process, Ohio institutions of higher education can apply for funding to redesign their educator preparation programs.
As an incentive grant recipient, Bowling Green State University is partnering with Washington Local School District and Whitmer High School to connect and engage junior high and high school students interested in the teaching profession.
Project EDUCATE (Educators of Diversity: Unified and Collaborative to Aspire Teacher Education) is a comprehensive, holistic approach that, when implemented from middle school to career placement, is designed to place diverse students on a meaningful and impactful pathway to becoming an educator. Through the implementation of Project EDUCATE activities, team leadership from Northwest Ohio Center for Excellence in STEM Education (NOW), the College of Education and Human Development at BGSU, and district partner Washington Local Schools expects to:
- Increase interest in and pursuit of education careers among BIPOC students;
- Support and retain BIPOC students throughout their educator preparation programs and into their careers;
- Create more just and equitable teaching and learning environments for BIPOC teachers and students; and
- Embed program activities and resources into participating institutions to maximize growth and long lasting impact.
“We believe that relationships are the connecting factor to developing a pipeline into the teaching profession, particularly when we’re looking to diversify the educator workforce,” shares Emilio Duran, Ph.D., Professor, Science Education at Bowling Green State University. “Building relationships takes time, and there’s no substitute for it.”
One of the unique facets of the partnership between BGSU and Whitmer High School is the use and application of life design and design thinking—a creative process and skills used to establish forward thinking mindsets and as a way explore and solve challenging problems.
“We’re trying to help students think about their interests and future career plans based on their beliefs and values and then explore where their career interests align,” explains Greg Dickerson, Life Design Coach at BGSU. “One of the core concepts of life design is to explore important questions and decisions in a person’s life including education, careers, and a person’s overall purpose. We know that purpose is one of the key factors that steer people to the field of education. So, as we think about purpose and the alignment of skills and interests, we believe these concepts can be introduced at the high school level.”
Whitmer High School teacher, Felicia Singleton, shares that while the initial goal of the partnership with BGSU was to increase students of color going into the field of education, the partnership has blossomed into other avenues.
“Increasing diversity is good for everyone,” Singleton shares. “Everyone needs to be exposed to different perspectives—adults and students. We all benefit from a diverse workforce, especially in education, and students need to see themselves in these roles.”
Felicia and her Whitmer colleagues are focused on ‘planting seeds’ early by engaging junior high students through after school programs with mentors of color, including teachers, coaches, counselors, etc. These younger students work with mentors to identify goals and receive guidance and direction. At the high school level, Felicia works with 9th and 10th -grade students and then many of those students move into the senior-level teaching professions classes.
“Over the past few years, our teaching professions program has doubled in size,” Singleton shares. “I believe that the work we are doing with BGSU to introduce life design and design thinking is part of that growth, and I am really proud of that. There’s nothing better than watching my students feel excited about what they accomplish, and I am excited to see where this can go with students setting their goals for their future.”
“I believe students are the future and they are the thinkers of tomorrow,” explains Dickerson. “It is incumbent upon us that they are prepared and ready to tackle life’s challenges—critically and innovatively, and to make this world a better place. By helping them uncover their sense of purpose, the life design and design thinking concepts are additional ways to help prepare students for the future.”