Dear JET Community and Colleagues,

JET is delighted to release its first field report, “Achieving Diversity and Equity: Paraeducator Pathways to College Success and the Teaching Profession."

JET’s report provides a program evaluation summary, highlights our impact on school districts, includes voices of paraeducators and education partners, and describes our flagship mentoring model. The report outlines recommendations and future opportunities to advance diversity and equity in underserved communities, pointing to the ways that Massachusetts and other states can rethink our approach to educator recruitment and retention.

The report comes at a pivotal time. Nationwide, the teacher shortage continues to grow, teacher attrition rates have increased, and there is a greater need to build a strong and diverse teacher workforce. At the same time, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected diverse, low-income communities. This is a critical time to create professional and economic opportunities for underrepresented adult learners, with the aim of diversifying the teacher workforce. JET is now collaborating with eleven district partners, as we strengthen our commitment to supporting aspiring educators and helping districts build community-based teacher pipelines. 

In partnership,