The NYU Steinhardt Teacher Residency (TR) has earned the 2024 Best Practice Award in Multicultural Education and Diversity by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE).
This award, sponsored by AACTE’s Committee on Global Diversity, recognizes the infusion of diversity throughout all components of a school, college, or department of education as critical to quality teacher preparation and professional development.
“It is my pleasure to present New York University with the Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity,” said Lynn M. Gangone, AACTE president and CEO. “Its Teacher Residency program’s groundbreaking practices and transformative impact shine as a guiding example in educator preparation, paving the way to establish an inclusive classroom environment that embraces all students.”
I have been thrilled to see firsthand the extent to which this innovative program has woven and infused diversity, equity, inclusion, and culturally sustaining practice throughout all aspects of its organization, from admissions and enrollment to pedagogy and practice.
The TR partners with school districts and charter networks across the country to recruit and prepare diverse teachers to be exemplary educators able to reach and teach all learners in equity- and justice-centered ways. Resident teachers earn a graduate degree through rigorous online coursework and year-long, immersive, on-site experiences in hard-to-staff schools, 95 percent of which receive Title 1 funding. The program consistently enrolls upwards of 60 percent aspiring teachers of color each year.
“We are very excited about this award from the AACTE because our work around anti-racism, culturally sustaining curriculum, diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice are central pieces of who we are and why we exist,” says Diana Turk, director of Teacher Education at Steinhardt and co-director of the TR. “In many ways, this is a public recognition that we are doing what we say we’re doing and contributing to the betterment of the educational system in the ways we believe we are.”
Other recent winners of the AACTE’s Multicultural Education and Diversity Award include Rutgers University, Old Dominion University, and Manhattanville College.
“Through its deep connections with the K-12 schools and districts with which it partners, the NYU Steinhardt TR has had a broad impact on the schools and communities its residents and graduates serve,” says Jack H. Knott, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean at NYU Steinhardt. “I have been thrilled to see firsthand the extent to which this innovative program has woven and infused diversity, equity, inclusion, and culturally sustaining practice throughout all aspects of its organization, from admissions and enrollment to pedagogy and practice.”
The TR will officially receive their award during a ceremony held at the AACTE’s upcoming annual meeting, held in February 2024 in Denver, Colorado.
