Norwich — Norwich Public Schools is joining a statewide effort to increase the number of teachers of color in Connecticut classrooms with an 18-month alternative education program that would pair four successful applicants with mentor teachers and provide classroom jobs following the training.

The effort is part of a statewide goal set by the Minority Teacher Recruitment Task Force to increase the number of minority teachers by 1,000 in schools across the state in the next year. Norwich will partner with LEARN, which is a regional educational service center, and the Capitol Region Educational Council to join the Teacher Residency Program, aimed at recruiting qualifying people of color interested in becoming elementary school teachers.

“I am thrilled to partner with CREC/LEARN in this initiative aimed at recruiting teachers of color from the Norwich community to become Norwich Public Schools teachers,” Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow said in a news release announcing the program.

Applicants must have bachelor’s degrees already. Teacher resident candidates begin an 18-month rigorous path to elementary certification, starting with six weeks of intensive summer courses, followed by working with a mentor teacher in a classroom throughout the 2021-22 school year while earning a salary and benefits. The resident trainees continue to take classes throughout the school year, in the summer and into the fall of 2022.

Teacher residents who successfully complete the certification requirements are guaranteed full-time classroom teaching positions in the second school year with their participating district, with a three-year minimum retention period. Stringfellow said any resident teacher who leaves before the three-year period would have to reimburse the district the entire cost of the program.

The actual cost has not been determined yet. Norwich will use a portion of its state Alliance District grant to fund the program, and the Capitol Region Educational Council and LEARN are seeking grants to offset the district's share, Stringfellow said.

Norwich will run several online informational sessions in January for interested potential applicants. Sessions will run from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Jan. 5, from 4 to 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 and from 5 to 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 21. A registration form is available on the school system website, www.norwichpublicschools.org.

The alternate route to elementary certification was designed to eliminate some common barriers to certification, the Norwich Public Schools news release stated, including the cost of graduate school, standardized test requirements and the economic hardship of being a full-time student. The program was designed specifically to recruit, train and retain qualified teachers of color.

The Capitol Region Education Council started the Teachers Residency Program in 2019 with approval from the state Department of Education. The program operated in four locations. The Class of 2019 had 11 residency participants — six women and five men — with 75% of participants Black, 16.7% Latino and 8.3% of two or more races.

The CREC Class of 2021 has 15 participants — five men and 10 women — with 73% Black and 17% Latino.

Norwich Assistant Superintendent Tamara Gloster said the district hopes to entice some noncertified employees already working in the school system to enroll in the program and will recruit from outside the school system. She said school officials also will try to promote the program with various organizations that work with minorities in the Norwich area.

“We hope to have all four by the start of next school year,” Gloster said. “And we want to be able to build it over time. This is a real commitment the superintendent really wants to do.”

c.bessette@theday.com