Our Mission
At the Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education (MPDE), our mission is to advance excellence in education across Massachusetts by fostering opportunities that support district hiring teams through the lens of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
We are committed to providing equal educational opportunities to all students, irrespective of their background. We actively recruit and support educators and administrators from diverse backgrounds to enrich our schools with a wide array of perspectives and experiences. Our efforts include enhancing the recruitment, professional development, and retention of teachers of color, ensuring they have the resources and opportunities necessary for success.
Through collaborative partnerships with school districts, partner organizations,and ongoing equity centered practices, we promote cultural understanding, educational equity, and community cohesion in an effort to increase diversity in our partnered districts.
MPDE provides:
Pipelines of qualified, diverse educators, and support to retain and develop them
TO STUDENTS
More diverse teachers and more culturally responsive schools
TO CANDIDATES
Current job openings at excellent school districts across the Northeast
Our Vision
Driven by our core values of equity, impact, connection, innovation, accountability, and humanity, we are committed to transforming the educational landscape in Massachusetts.
Our vision at MPDE supports that every student in our member districts thrive in inclusive, diverse, and equitable school environments. We envision a future where:​​
​Join us in our mission to create a future where diversity is celebrated, equity is paramount, and every educator and student achieves their fullest potential.
We support district access to exceptional educational opportunities supported by educators who reflect and respect the diversity of our communities.
We provide opportunities to enrich school communities with a diverse cohort of educators and administrators, enhancing the educational experience for all students.
​Collaborative networks of school districts across the North Shore, South Shore, and Metro Boston areas work together to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion within educational settings.
Partnerships with school systems are dedicated and committed to creating inclusive, supportive, and equitable educational communities where every educator and student can thrive.
Our History
Founded to respond to student and family needs in the early days of Boston's racial desegregation movement, MPDE has adapted with evolving ideas and terminology to become the leading resource for assembling and retaining diverse teaching teams in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
MPDE's pioneers
MPDE evolved from the creative foresight and dedication of two African American school district administrators, Samuel Turner and Alvin Fortune. Sam and Al were the first non-white administrators in Newton and Brookline Public Schools, respectively.
In the mid-1960s, the Massachusetts legislature passed the Racial Imbalance Law to address the segregation of Boston schools. Brookline and Newton school leaders led five other suburban districts in an experiment to bus some Black and brown children from the city to suburban schools to integrate and improve their education and academic experience. Concurrent with the incorporation of this program, called the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), Turner and Fortune were hired to be principals in their districts.
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Integration's impact
In the early 1970s, the initial integration of the Boston students into the suburban districts surfaced unintended negative effects and disparities, including declining academic performance of the Boston students. The leadership in place realized the need to provide professional development and counseling to address the impact of the racial and cultural differences between the incoming and receiving populations.
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Sam and Al, aware of these issues in their districts, met to devise a plan to address and mitigate the issue from another direction: to change the landscape of teachers to more reflect the racial profile of incoming Boston students.
Organizing to recruit
Sam and Al mobilized the HR administrators in the METCO districts to establish a concentrated effort to seek, recruit, and hire Black teachers for their districts. They named this first organized group the Personnel Administrator Consortium (PAC). The primary mission and goal adopted then remains today: increase the number of Black teachers in Massachusetts public schools.
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In the early 1990s, Affirmative Action legislation led PAC to rename the organization the Affirmative Action Recruitment Partnership (AARP). When “diversity” became the buzzword for this continuing effort, the officers changed the name to the Massachusetts Partnership for Diversity in Education (MPDE), the present identity.
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Retaining diversity
In earlier days, recruiters drew applicants from travels to HBCU Institutions and other schools outside of Massachusetts. As the effort progressed, they developed connections with local social and community ethnic groups, Greek sororities and fraternities, churches, and colleges and universities within Massachusetts.
Recently MPDE has added a focus on retention, directing significant resources to professional development in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB).
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One goal, many names
MPDE has operated uninterrupted from its inception in the early seventies to the present. It has expanded from a long-standing cap of 25 METCO districts to more than 50 districts, including some outside of the METCO program. Its members represent a significant contribution to the total number of BIPOC educators in the Commonewealth.
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In 2023, MPDE was granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Officers presently serve as the Board of Directors, with plans to establish a formal governing Board in 2024.