According to the Joyner Foundation and NEA, HBCUs were chosen as the grant recipients because minority-serving institutions, including Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges, are the largest source of minority teachers. Currently, these institutions award close to half of all bachelor’s degrees in education earned by Blacks and Hispanics, and 12 percent of those earned by American Indians. Even so, the disparity between minority students and teachers is dramatic. Nationally, about 17 percent of public school students are Black, compared to only 8 percent of teachers.

“With No Child Left Behind, we will have a real shortage of minority teachers,” says Dr. Judith Presley, assistant dean of Tennessee State’s college of education. “It’s also the group that is not doing well on Praxis. They will get in and won’t stay in education.”

Tennessee State used its $100,000 grant to address deficiencies and teach test-taking strategies to teacher candidates and provisionally licensed teachers. 

The grants can also offset the financial burden for students who have to take part or all of the Praxis exam over. Registration for the exam is $40 each time, and individual test sections cost between $75 and $85 per attempt.

To date, the Joyner Foundation has raised more than $25 million and provided grants to about 80 colleges universities.

— By Dianne Hayes

PRAXIS FACTS
Praxis I — Measures basic skills in reading, writing and math of college students entering teacher education programs.
 
Praxis II — Measures subject-specific knowledge and teaching skills as part of a teacher's licensing and certification.
 
Praxis III — Assesses the skills of beginning teachers in their classroom setting.