City Year's teacher pathways

Developing a diverse and culturally responsive teaching workforce

To meet the growing social, emotional and academic demands students face, our nation must develop a diverse and culturally responsive teacher workforce. We believe building a stronger teacher pathway that begins with a year of service in schools as a City Year AmeriCorps member is critical to this goal.

City Year approaches the work of educational equity and teacher pathways through local site-based partnership and fellowships.

City Year alumni teachers are significantly more diverse than national averages. In a 2022 survey, 20% of alumni teachers identified as Black, compared with the national average of 7%, while 54% identified as white, compared with 79% nationally.

Why does this matter?

A major research study, “The long-run impacts of same-race teachers”, shows that students of color who have at least one teacher of the same race in elementary school experience higher rates of high school graduation and college enrollment.

As the K-12 student population in the United States continues to become more diverse, it’s critically important for student success that the teaching force—now 79% white—reflects the populations it serves.

Building a strong AmeriCorps member-to-teacher pipeline

Our partnerships with local universities and community-based organizations support City Year AmeriCorps members—who serve as student success coaches—and alums at various sites to create a stronger AmeriCorps member-to-teacher pipeline. Service provides young people with the opportunity to explore teaching, and our partnerships help streamline becoming a teacher. We aim to maintain partnerships focused on teacher pipeline innovation that benefit and leverage City Year and the local partners in our shared communities.

City Year is committed to supporting each and every corps member who wants to become a teacher in their journey from supporting the classroom to leading it.