Today, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) is announcing new awards to further address the teacher shortage and help ensure long-term investments in teacher pipeline and development programs across the country. New investments under the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) program, include 22 new three-year grants totaling more than $60 million, bringing the Biden-Harris Administration’s additional support for teachers through Fiscal Year 2022 grant competitions to more than $285 million.
“We are treating our efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain a talented and diverse educator workforce with the same level of urgency we brought to reopening our schools during the height of the pandemic,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Now more than ever, we are supporting teacher preparation and development programs that provide educators with meaningful, relevant, and evidence-based strategies for promoting student success and social and emotional well-being. Today’s investment of over $60 million will support high-quality programs across the country that are truly raising the bar for professional development and embracing evidence-based and innovative and promising approaches, like Grow-Your-Own programs, to strengthen the teacher pipeline today, and in the years ahead.”
The SEED program supports evidence-based practices that prioritizes educators’ growth across the continuum of their careers. In this year’s SEED competition, the Department directed funding to projects designed to support educator workforce through high-quality, comprehensive teacher preparation programs, including those with a strong track record of recruiting and placing underrepresented teacher candidates, and that include one year of high-quality clinical experiences. The Department also prioritized projects designed to help teachers create inclusive and equitable learning designed to meet students’ social, emotional, and academic needs.
