Teachers Of Color Scholarship Program Expanding To East Bay

Three years after launching a scholarship program to address the shortage of teachers of color working in Marin County’s public schools, Dominican University of California is expanding the program into the East Bay.

The new East Bay Teachers of Color Scholarship is funded by a $100,000 contribution from anonymous donors through Marin Community Foundation. Dominican hopes to award up to 10 East Bay TOC scholarships during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Teachers of Color (TOC) Scholarship awards cover 50% of tuition while the student is either completing the teaching credential portion of Dominican’s MS in Education degree or taking courses towards their teaching credential as part of their bachelor’s degree in Education Studies. Preference is given to Latinx and African American students planning to teach in Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa county public schools.

The Marin TOC Scholarship has received $450,000 in contributions from anonymous donors. Nine students received the Marin TOC this academic year. In all, 14 students have completed their teaching credentials since Dominican started offering the TOC Scholarship. The Novato Unified School District and San Rafael School District are the top employers of Dominican TOC graduates.

The TOC program is expanding at a critical time for California’s public schools. The diversity of the state’s current teacher population does not reflect its student population, notes the California Department of Education. The largest percentage of students of color is Latinx, but just 20 percent of teachers are Latinx. CDE data show that in 2021-22, 3,291,260 of California’s 5,892,240 public school students were Latinx and 298,768 students were African American. In 2018-19 – the latest teacher data available – 64,904 of the state’s 307,470 public school teachers were Latinx and 11,998 were African American.

GRADUATE PROGRAMS AT DOMINICAN
Students who have earned a bachelor’s degree in any subject are eligible for a TOC Scholarship. Applicants could range from recent graduates to career changers, as well as individuals already working in schools as custodians, counselors, librarians, administrative assistants, tutors and classroom aides. Students also are eligible for the School Employee Scholarship, which offers an additional 25% tuition discount for employees of public and private schools for up to 75% of tuition covered.

For more information, visit the Teaching Credential and Master of Science in Education webpage.