Teacher Pathways
Forecasted
Teacher Pathways supports Philadelphia organizations’ teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention efforts to increase certified K–12 teachers and build a workforce that better reflects its students.
Funder: William Penn Foundation
Due Dates: Due Dates (Anticipated): Not yet announced
Funding Amounts: $11,257,587 awarded across 24 grants since 2024 (cumulative investment)
Summary: Supports teacher preparation, recruitment, and retention efforts that increase certified K–12 teachers and diversify Philadelphia’s teaching workforce.
Description
Teacher Pathways is a funding objective within the William Penn Foundation’s Children and Families program. It supports efforts to increase the percentage of certified K–12 teachers in Philadelphia and make the racial and ethnic composition of the teaching workforce more reflective of its students by 2035. The foundation seeks projects and programs that Philadelphia organizations believe will best advance this objective.
Potential approaches include teacher residencies, improvements to teacher preparation programs, career exploration, mentorship, and other efforts to recruit and retain high-quality and diverse teachers. The objective responds to a shrinking teacher pipeline, high teacher attrition, and limited workforce diversity. It reflects the foundation’s emphasis on the positive associations between diverse, well-trained educators and student achievement, graduation, attendance, and postsecondary completion.
