Cultivating Talent: Insights from the 2022 National Study Cultivating Talent: Insights from the 2022 National Study Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of Hispanic Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of Hispanic Teachers and Leaders in Catholic Schools Teachers and Leaders in Catholic Schools

: This arti cle draws exten sively on data from Cultivating Talent: A National Study Examin­ ing Pathways to Increase the Presence of His panic Teachers and Leaders in Cath o lic Schools , conducted by Bos ton College research ers and released in Jan u ary 2022. The report looks to under stand and appre ci ate the var i ous ways in which His pan ics edu ca tors are transforming the Amer i can Cath o lic school expe ri ence. Our find ings clearly show that Cath o lic schools in the United States are and will be fur ther enriched by the pres ence and con tri bu tions of His panic teach ers and lead ers. The report encour ages stake hold ers of Cath o lic edu ca tion and pas to ral lead ers at all lev els, across the nation, to make a renewed com mit ment to investing and cul ti vat ing tal ent within the His panic com mu nity.

, which we released in Jan u ary 2022, and for which we served as prin ci pal inves ti ga tors. The national research study ground ing this arti cle pro vi des insights into primary lines of inquiry: What do His panic teach ers and lead ers bring to Cath o lic schools? What are some of the chal lenges His panic edu ca tors face in Cath o lic schools? Previous research conducted by Bos ton College-"Cath o lic Schools in an Increasingly His panic Church: A Summary Report of Findings from the National Survey of Cath o lic Schools Serving His panic Families (Cath o lic Schools in an Increasingly His panic Church)"-dem on strated that the cre a tion of a healthy and wel com ing school envi ron ment for His panic fam i lies was a nec es sary, if not major pre req ui site for suc cess ful recruit ment, enroll ment, and reten tion (Ospino & Weitzel-O'Neill, 2016). The study also high lighted the impor tance of engag ing His panic fam i lies and lead ers in exer cises of advo cacy, such as pro mot ing leg is la tion that sup ports school choice options. Expanding on this 2016 study, Cultivating Talent brings atten tion to the need for more reflec tion on the pres ence and con tri butions of His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools.

Historical Factors Driving Low Hispanic Educator Representation
Today, 29.1 mil lion His panic Cath o lics (about 47% of all His pan ics self-iden tify as such) con sti tute about 41.6% of the nearly 70 mil lion Cath o lics in the United States (Smith et al., 2019). These num bers sug gest that the future of Cathol i cism in this coun try will be sig nifi cantly defined by His pan ics. In 2016, the National Cath o lic Education Association (NCEA) reported that 7% of all fac ulty (includ ing full-time and part-time teach ers and lead ers) in Cath o lic schools selfiden ti fied as His panic (McDonald & Schultz, 2016). That per cent age increased to 9% (14,612) in the 2020-2021 aca demic year (McDonald & Schultz, 2021). The Cultivating Talent report pro vi des a closer look at who His panic teach ers and lead ers are in Cath o lic schools, how they enrich these insti tu tions with their pres ence and their work, the chal lenges they face, and how these schools sup port their flourishment.
His panic teach ers and lead ers have been work ing in Cath o lic schools at var i ous points in the his tory of the Church in the United States. Based on these his tor i cal accounts and the existing quan ti ta tive data, the num ber of His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools has been dramat i cally small for at least four rea sons. First, Cath o lic schools were tra di tion ally staffed pri mar ily by vowed reli gious women and men, the immense major ity of whom were White and of Euro pean descent. A shif to a mainly lay work force meant wel com ing more racially and eth ni cally diverse pop u la tions. With 86% of the lay work force being White in Cath o lic schools (McDonald & Schultz, 2021), this human cap i tal com po si tional shif to a more racially and eth ni cally diverse body of edu ca tors remains a goal to be achieved.
Second, Cath o lic schools have focused pri mar ily on the enroll ment of His panic stu dents rather than the engage ment and empow er ment of His panic edu ca tors. Currently, about 2% of His panic school-aged chil dren attend Cath o lic schools (294,947 stu dents) com pared to the 13.4 mil lion His panic stu dents who attend pub lic schools (Ospino & Weitzel-O'Neill, 2016). The highest His panic stu dent enroll ment in Cath o lic schools in a given year was reported in 2017-2018, with 319,650 stu dents (McDonald & Schultz, 2018). Despite the national demo graphic growth of His panic stu dents, and efforts by enroll ment coor di na tors and insti tutes for His panic enroll ment, there has been a decline of 25,000 His panic stu dents in Cath o lic schools since 2018.
Third, a major ity (about 61%) of Cath o lic schools are located in the Northeast and Midwest-geo graph i cal regions where the Cath o lic pop u la tion has been pre dom i nantly White, Euro-Amer i can, and English-speak ing (Ospino & Weitzel-O'Neill, 2016). The Cath o lic educa tional infra struc ture for the burgeoning His panic stu dent pop u la tion in the Southwest and Southeast is not strong, and employ ment oppor tu ni ties for His panic teach ers and lead ers in these schools are few.
Last, a long his tory of prej u dice and dis crim i na tion has kept His pan ics from benefit ting from Cath o lic schools. Besides strug gling with pov erty, which is a major fac tor to take into con sid eration given the high costs of Cath o lic edu ca tion in many parts of the coun try, His pan ics are ofen confronted with neg a tive per cep tions about their bilin gual ism, bicul tur al ism, migra tory sta tus (for those who are immi grants), and even the var i ous ways in which they live out their Cath o lic iden tity (Desai & Abeita, 2017;Murakami et al., 2016;Ocasio, 2014;Ospino & Weitzel-O'Neill, 2016). All these rea sons together cul mi nate in for mu las that com pli cate any pos si ble path way for His panics to serve as teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools.
The growth in the num ber of His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools has been rather slow com pared to the expo nen tial growth of the larger His panic Cath o lic pop u la tion. Yet, the over all size of the His panic Cath o lic pop u la tion and a renewed effort to inte grate His panic tra di tions and con tri bu tions into the larger eccle sial expe ri ence sug gest that the pres ence of these teach ers and lead ers will con tinue to grow and influ ence the char ac ter and direc tion of Cath o lic edu ca tion.
His panic edu ca tors are gen er ally under rep re sented in edu ca tional set tings. To under stand key real i ties affect ing His panic edu ca tors across var i ous sec tors in U.S. schools, the fol low ing com par ative anal y sis is use ful. According to 2017-2018 data from the United States Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 9% of edu ca tors in tra di tional pub lic schools self-iden ti fied as His panic. In pub lic char ter schools, 16% of edu ca tors self-iden ti fied as His panic, as did 7% of edu ca tors in pri vate schools (which includes Cath o lic schools; Hussar et al., 2020). Though char ter schools recruit and retain a higher per cent age of His panic edu ca tors, when tak ing into con sid er ation the num ber of His panic stu dents enrolled in these schools, the actual teacher-to-stu dent ratio is smaller com pared to other types of schools. The mis match becomes evi dent when com par ing the num ber of His panic edu ca tors to that of His panic stu dents across sec tors. Fall 2018 data indi cate that 27% of all pub lic school stu dents self-iden ti fied as His panic (Hussar et al., 2020). Fall 2017 data indi cate that 11% of all pri vate school stu dents self-iden ti fied as His panic: 16% in all Cath o lic schools (Hussar et al., 2020). In 2020-2021, the NCEA reported that 18% of all Cath o lic school stu dents were His panic (McDonald & Schultz, 2021).
While the His panic edu ca tor-His panic stu dent mis match is greatest in the pub lic sec tor, it is still a crit i cal gap in the pri vate sec tor, includ ing in Cath o lic schools. In response to the pub lic sec tor mis match, pub lic school lead ers and pol icy mak ers have been striv ing to close the gap by pur su ing a num ber of inno va tive strat e gies and oppor tu ni ties, includ ing the cre a tion of new edu cator prep a ra tion pro grams and path ways; schol ar ships and other funding sup ports; loan for give ness pro grams; teacher res i den cies; "Grow Your Own" pro grams; mentoring and induc tion pro grams; and other ini tia tives (Carver-Thomas, 2018). Cath o lic schools have the oppor tu nity to learn from these attempts, includ ing conducting empir i cal research on attempted inter ven tions, to inform their own efforts to recruit and retain His panic edu ca tors in a research-informed, mis sion-driven man ner. Additionally, a stron ger com mit ment to this goal means investing in edu ca tor prep a ra tion and for ma tion pro grams spe cifi cally targeting under rep re sented edu ca tors, pro vid ing inten tional mentoring and induc tion for begin ning edu ca tors, and exam in ing school cul ture and prac tices to cre ate envi ron ments that wel come and sup port under rep re sented edu ca tors (Bristol, 2020;Noonan & Bristol, 2020; The New Teacher Project [TNTP], 2020).
As Cath o lic schools look to recruit and retain under rep re sented teach ers, much can be learned from pub lic sec tor peers who have explored and invested in mul ti ple strat e gies and ini tia tives. Prior to con sid er ing new strat e gies and ini tia tives that lead to a greater diver si fi ca tion of tal ent, it is impor tant to first cap ture what the expe ri ence of teach ing and lead ing is for Hispanic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools and doc u ment existing pro grams. This arti cle sum ma rizes the set of ini tial find ings from Cultivating Talent: A Summary of Findings from the National Study Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of His panic Teachers and Leaders in Cath o lic Schools.

Methodology
Data sources for this study included a national sur vey, focus groups, inter views, and a review of existing lit er a ture on areas such as dis cern ment and reten tion of under rep re sented teach ers. The sur vey was designed by the authors of this arti cle, who served as the prin ci pal inves ti ga tors, and hosted by Bos ton College on a secure site using Qualtrics. The Bos ton College Institutional Review Board approved all mate ri als and research activ ity.
The sur vey of His panic edu ca tors consisted of two sep a rate sec tions-one des ig nated for teach ers and another for school lead ers. This sur vey was dis trib uted in July 2021 and closed in Novem ber 2021. All ques tions were cat e go rized uti liz ing a the o ret i cal frame work on dis cern ment devel oped for this study. This the o ret i cal frame work on dis cern ment cat e go rized ques tions into the fol low ing four domains: (a) per sonal dis cern ment, (b) dis cern ment with(in) the insti tu tion, (c) jour ney from the com mu nity into the Cath o lic school, and (d) jour ney from the Cath o lic school back into the com mu nity. Respondents' per cep tions regard ing the voca tional dis cern ment in each of these domains high lighted crit i cal char ac ter is tics of the His panic edu ca tor expe ri ence.
All responding His panic edu ca tors signed a con sent form and all sur vey emails were followed with monthly elec tronic remind ers. Additionally, the team sent some fol low-up phone calls or emails to answer par tic i pants' ques tions regard ing the sur vey. As a fol low-up to the sur vey, a num ber of focus groups and one-on-one inter views were conducted with teach ers, assis tant prin ci pals, prin ci pals, asso ciate super in ten dents, super in ten dents, and national advo cates for His panic min is tries. These inter views were audio recorded, tran scribed, and coded using NVivo sof ware. Here, we uti lized an open-coded approach based on the the o ret i cal frame work on dis cern ment as an orga ni za tional guide (Miles et al., 2018). These qual i ta tive data pro vided sub stan tive insights into the expe ri ences of His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools and added fur ther under stand ing beyond our sur vey results.

Figure 2
Catholic Educators in the United States, by Race-Ethnicity, 2020 Per the lat est NCEA report in 2020, there are an esti mated 146,367 teach ers work ing in Cath o lic schools through out the United States (McDonald & Schultz, 2021). Of that work force, His panic edu ca tors are esti mated to com prise approx i ma tely 9%. These edu ca tors work in schools across the nation, although not in equal num bers by region.
The pre dom i nant regions of the coun try that employ higher per cent ages of His panic Cath o lic school edu ca tors are the Northeast, the Southeast, and the Southwest, with clus ters in major Midwestern cit ies (e.g., Chicago). In total, 291 His panic Cath o lic edu ca tors responded to the sur vey, representing a 3% response rate and 2% of the esti mated 14,612 His panic Cath o lic school edu ca tors nation ally. Of the 291 respon dents, 142 were teach ers (49%), 143 were school lead ers (49%), and 7 were clas si fied as "other" school per son nel (2%).
The sam pling was rep re sen ta tive across the entire nation. Of the 32 arch di o ceses and 144 dio ceses in the United States, respon dents from 71 arch di o ceses/dio ceses par tic i pated in the study (40%). The highest response rate stemmed from Florida, par tic u larly in the greater Miami met ro pol i tan area, followed by Los Angeles, Bos ton, Galveston-Houston, Orlando, and New York.

Results
Here we sum ma rize the find ings of the Cultivating Talent report, in three main areas: the voca tion and iden tity of a His panic teacher/school leader; path ways into Cath o lic edu ca tion; and sup port struc tures within the Cath o lic school and across (arch)dio cese.

The Vocation and Identity of a His panic Teacher/School Leader
The U.S. His panic pop u la tion, now at 62 mil lion peo ple, rep re sents a vari ety of races, ethnicities, cus toms, aca demic tra jec to ries, income lev els, cul tural tra di tions, and even lan guages. Our study sam ple (i.e., His panic PK-12 edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools in the United States) reflects this rich tap es try, with the over whelm ing major ity of these teach ers self-iden ti fy ing as Cath o lic (97%) and female (81%). Thirty-seven per cent are under 40, 67% are mar ried, a major ity (66%) have chil dren, and a hand ful (15%) have grandchildren, with 42% enroll ing their chil dren or grandchildren in the Cath o lic school where they teach. Survey find ings also indi cate that His panic teach ers in U.S. Cath o lic schools are highly qual i fied and well edu cated: They have an aver age of 13.7 years of teach ing expe ri ence, 97% earned a bach e lor's degree, 58% received a mas ter's degree, and 10% have a doc toral degree. Forty per cent of the teach ers are for eign-born, with Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba cited more fre quently as countries of ori gin.
When looking spe cifi cally at Cath o lic school lead ers, only 7% of prin ci pals in Cath o lic schools self-iden tify as His panic (NCES, 2018). Of the 143 school lead ers that par tic i pated in our study, the vast major ity self-iden tify as Cath o lic (96%). Two thirds self-iden tify as female and 65% as mar ried. The major ity of His panic Cath o lic school lead ers have chil dren (92%) or grandchildren (20%), with 47% enroll ing their chil dren or grandchildren in the Cath o lic school where they teach. Nearly three quar ters of responding lead ers were above 40 years of age, with 30% reporting that they were in their 40s.
Findings also indi cate that His panic lead ers in Cath o lic schools in the United States are highly qual i fied, highly edu cated, and deeply com mit ted to Cath o lic schools. Of the par tic i pants sur veyed, 99% hold a bach e lor's degree, 89% a mas ter's degree, and 33% a doc toral degree; an addi tional 5% hold other pro fes sional degrees (i.e., JD, MD, or DDS). Individuals reported being in their cur rent role on aver age for 9 years, and have been work ing in the Cath o lic school sys tem for an aver age of 16 years. This ten ure dem on strates a deep com mit ment to the sec tor of Cath o lic schools, as well as their indi vid ual school com mu ni ties, with many hav ing served in no more than three Cath o lic schools. Twenty-seven per cent of the lead ers are for eign-born, with Mexico cited most fre quently as the coun try of ori gin.
Our data high light some impor tant com mon al i ties among the Cath o lic edu ca tors who par tic ipated, spe cifi cally around (a) the voca tional call to Cath o lic edu ca tion, (b) the moti va tional fac tors for work ing in Cath o lic schools, and (c) the evo lu tion of pro fes sional iden tity.
A sig nifi cant num ber of respon dents (88%) indi cated they "mostly" or "abso lutely agreed" that they "have been called to [their] cur rent line of work" and 82% "mostly" or "abso lutely agreed" that they want a "career that ulti mately makes the world a bet ter place." Further, the over whelm ing major ity of sur vey respon dents (98%) felt that being a Cath o lic edu ca tor allowed them to con tribute to the com mon good, with 94% "mostly" or "abso lutely agree ing" that "mak ing a diff er ence for oth ers is the pri mary moti va tion in [their] career." Their work as His panic Cath o lic school edu ca tors allows them to "live out [their] life's pur pose" (88.7%) and bring "dig nity and mean ing to one's life" (82%).
Growing up, nearly 58% of the edu ca tors sur veyed knew that they would become teach ers or have a career in edu ca tion. Of these indi vid u als, three quar ters indi cated that they were encour aged by oth ers to be a teacher, with fam ily mem bers being a pri mary influ ence in enter ing the teach ing force (64%), followed by teach ers, friends, prin ci pals, and pas tors. Many par tici pat ing His panic Cath o lic school lead ers indi cated that they would not have con sid ered apply ing for a lead er ship role if not for the encour age ment and "gen tle nudg ing" of super vi sors and fel low edu ca tors.
Understanding what moti vates indi vid u als to enter edu ca tional careers and remain in these posi tions long term is impor tant for improv ing schools and help ing to sup port top-qual ity edu cators as teach ers and lead ers. It is clear from the sur vey data that the moti va tion to teach and lead in Cath o lic schools among His panic teach ers and lead ers is driven by faith and val ues. When consid er ing why His panic edu ca tors choose to teach and lead in Cath o lic schools, one must con sider whether com pen sa tion is a moti vat ing force. With sal ary sched ules lower than what pub lic school coun ter parts normally offer, it can be easy to assume that many Cath o lic edu ca tors would leave the sec tor. Interestingly, research has found that sal ary and ben e fits are usu ally ranked lower in a review of moti va tions for Cath o lic edu ca tors (Convey, 2014). The con di tion of sal ary has been found to influ ence the deci sion-mak ing pro cess of newly hired teach ers, suggesting that early career teach ers may be swayed by pay. However, teacher mobil ity is much more strongly related to char ac ter is tics of the teacher (e.g., back ground, train ing, and envi ron ment) than to sal ary (Murnane et al., 1989). Thus, sal ary seems to serve as a com plex moti va tor for His panic edu ca tors. When asked "to what extent does your sal ary moti vate your work, " 42% of respon dents claimed this was "not" or "only slightly influ en tial" and about 25% said it was "very" or "extremely influ en tial." These data seem to indi cate that some His panic teach ers are not pri mar ily moti vated by sal ary; how ever, when asked about their rea sons for con sid er ing not teach ing or lead ing, 73% of all His panic Cath o lic school edu ca tors noted sal ary and ben e fits as the rea son-far and away the most com mon rea son. This rises to 81% when just con sid er ing teach ers. Although there are a num ber of con di tions that impact edu ca tor turn over and reten tion, the impor tance of sal ary should not be discounted.
Finally, pro fes sional iden ti ties are mul ti fac eted, with diff er ent com po nents inter wo ven (e.g., famil ial, eth nic, aca demic, and occu pa tional; Murakami et al., 2016). Research on how His pan ics define iden tity has found that this pop u la tion is inev i ta bly influ enced by two major par a digms: (a) iden tity as influ enced by polit i cal and racial dis crim i na tion; and (b) iden tity as influ enced by fam ily, com mu nity/class, and reli gion (Murakami et al., 2016).
Much of the research about under rep re sented teach ers and lead ers in the field of edu ca tion high lights that many enter the field with the moti va tion to work with under rep re sented stu dents (Turner et al., 2017). However, our study paints a more nuanced view. Less than one third (29%) of respon dents said that the oppor tu nity to work with His panic chil dren drew them to work in a Cath o lic school. However, it is worth observ ing that dur ing the inter views and focus groups, the over whelm ing major ity of par tic i pants actu ally spoke about the impor tance of work ing with Hispanic stu dents and fam i lies. In these con ver sa tions, par tic i pants spoke of their His panic iden tity as a fun da men tal rea son to per se vere in their careers. They expressed a belief that their cul tural background and eth nic ity cre ates a strong con nec tion with the under rep re sented stu dents and fam i lies they serve and that they offered per spec tives that are diff er ent from those of non-His panic teach ers and lead ers. These edu ca tors see their pro fes sional iden tity as an essen tial part of their lives, hav ing the poten tial to influ ence the iden tity of His panic youth, who ofen see a reflec tion of them selves in the leader. Many shared about bar ri ers to their suc cess, commenting on how dis crim i na tion, alien ation, and token ism led them to ques tion their iden tity.
This aligns with research that points toward stigma and iden tity dis so ci a tion as some of the main obsta cles faced when work ing towards suc cess for first and sub se quent gen er a tions of His panics (Cummins et al., 2015). For indi vid u als who feel stig ma tized, it can be dif cult to see themselves as an essen tial part of the pro fes sional com mu nity, and ofen they begin to ques tion their pur pose (Desai & Abeita, 2017). When His panic stu dents are not represented among teach ers and admin is tra tors, their cul tural iden tity and their strug gles are ofen not addressed (Murakami et al., 2016). Likewise, when His panic edu ca tors are not represented among teach ers and lead ers in a sys tem, their cul tural iden tity and their strug gles are not addressed. For the strength en ing of our Cath o lic schools, it is imper a tive to emphat i cally embrace the iden tity of our His panic edu ca tors.
Central to one's iden tity is one's lin guis tic assets. Bilingualism-par tic u larly cul ti vated in U.S. schools with dual lan guage pro grams, where stu dents learn con tent in English and their home lan guage-is a gif: It ben e fits aca demic achieve ment (Ocasio, 2014) and leads to cul tural and lin guis tic iden tity afr ma tion (Cummins et al., 2015). This lat ter has been linked to stu dents' and edu ca tors' aca demic and pro fes sional suc cess (Mar ian et al., 2013).
As Cathol i cism in the United States embraces its plu ral is tic and mul ti lin gual iden tity in the 21st cen tury, Cath o lic schools are uniquely posi tioned to fos ter mul ti lin gual ism. One way to give life to such a com mit ment is by afrming the numer ous gifs bilin gual edu ca tors bring to our schools, and to call for their just com pen sa tion and sup port. Bilingual edu ca tors are the foun da tion of dual lan guage pro grams; with out them, dual lan guage edu ca tion would remain an ideal-a dream for many, and an oppor tu nity for few, as less than 2% of His panic chil dren in the United States have the oppor tu nity to par tic i pate in dual lan guage pro grams (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2016).
Increased rep re sen ta tion and cen ter ing the Span ish lan guage in the class room and com mu nity leads to an afrming edu ca tional expe ri ence for His panic stu dents, uplifing and embrac ing their cul tural and lin guis tic back grounds and iden ti ties.

Pathways into Cath o lic Education
His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools enter their roles through a vari ety of path ways and programs. In gen eral, few edu ca tor prep a ra tion pro grams in the United States ded i cate strat e gies and resources explic itly to recruiting under rep re sented edu ca tors from diverse back grounds, includ ing His panic edu ca tors (TNTP, 2020). Our study revealed that the major ity of His panic teach ers work ing in Cath o lic schools did not attend a Cath o lic col lege or uni ver sity at the under grad u ate or grad u ate level. Only 27% attended under grad u ate pro grams and 19% grad u ate pro grams at Cath o lic col le ges or uni ver si ties. Barely 7% of His panic teach ers were trained through alter na tive prep a ra tion and cer ti fi ca tion pro grams, includ ing those spe cifi cally designed for Cath o lic school edu ca tors via the University Consortium for Cath o lic Education (UCCE). Post-bac ca lau re ate pro grams typ i cally func tion as alter na tive train ing or cer ti fi ca tion ini tia tives. His panic Cath o lic school lead ers, how ever, are more likely to have attended a Cath o lic col lege or uni ver sity, with 42% attend ing under grad u ate pro grams and 53% grad u ate pro grams. Some Cath o lic col le ges and uni ver si ties, such as Bos ton College, the University of Notre Dame, and Loyola Marymount University, have devel oped Cath o lic-school-spe cific lead er ship degree and path way pro grams. The exis tence of such pro grams may be a rea son for the larger num bers of edu ca tors in our study who have under gone grad u ate-level for ma tion.
When explor ing path ways into teach ing and lead ing in Cath o lic schools, it is impor tant to real ize that a sig nifi cant num ber of His panic teach ers received train ing and for ma tion out side of the United States-espe cially those who are immi grants. Our study indi cates that 20% of teach ers and 8% of school lead ers in Cath o lic schools hold degrees from insti tu tions of higher edu ca tion not located in the United States. Establishing degree equiv a lence and trans fer ring edu ca tor cer tifi ca tions are dif cult pro cesses to nav i gate. This may be a fac tor in the rel a tively low per cent age of His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools who are not appro pri ately cer ti fied by their state cer ti fi cation ofces. However, Cath o lic schools in gen eral can hire His panic edu ca tors who are immi grants with out reg u lar state cer ti fi ca tions, which can pro vide a tem po rary path way into ser vice in Cath olic edu ca tion while they val i date their degrees and cer ti fi ca tions.
One fac tor that seems con sis tently pos i tive and a good indi ca tor of future com mit ment to Cath o lic schools is their own expe ri ence in or with Cath o lic edu ca tion. It is impor tant for cur rent His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools to acknowl edge the influ ence they have on stu dents, fam i lies, and com mu nity part ners through their every day inter ac tions. As many edu cators do, they can inten tion ally invite or encour age indi vid u als into a voca tion to ser vice in Cath o lic edu ca tion. Recruiting, supporting, and encour ag ing His panic chil dren and youth in Cath o lic schools today will have long-term effects and increase the poten tial of recruiting and retaining more His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools tomor row.
Another path way into Cath o lic schools for His panic edu ca tors is prior involve ment, for mally or infor mally, in min is try. Ministry here is defined broadly, rang ing from reg u lar lay engage ment in church and faith-based activ i ties to for mal min is te rial com mit ments, such as ordi na tion, conse cra tion, and full-time lay eccle sial min is try. About 53% of all respon dents in the study said that they had been involved in Cath o lic orga ni za tions, asso ci a tions, or clubs prior to work ing in their Cath o lic school. When asked to describe the type of involve ment, the major ity named par ish-based min is tries, such as youth and young adult min is try, reli gious edu ca tion, prayer groups, apos tolic move ments, litur gi cal min is tries, and faith-based com mu nity orga niz ing. Based on these responses, engage ment in par ish-based min is tries, com bined with the desire to give back to one's com mu nity, has the poten tial to fuel dis cern ment towards a career in Cath o lic edu ca tion.
Nearly a quar ter of par tic i pants in the study (22%) have con sid ered a voca tional com mit ment in the Church, such as ordained priest hood or reli gious life. This sig nals that many His panic edu ca tors have a strong sense of eccle sial ser vice and likely see their work as Cath o lic edu ca tors as an actu al iza tion of their min is te rial voca tion. The num ber of His panic Cath o lic priests and vowed reli gious women and men in the United States is very small com pared to the size of the His panic Cath o lic pop u la tion. As of 2018, according to data col lected through the Fifh National Encuentro of His panic/Latino Ministry pro cess, there were 2,987 His panic priests (2,263 [or 76%] of them for eign-born) and 2,293 His panic vowed reli gious women and men in the coun try (Fifh National Encuentro of His panic/Latino Ministry, 2019). Supporting His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools could in turn serve as a path way to other forms of eccle sial ser vice.
Strong par tic i pa tion in par ish life and min is te rial engage ment should be seen as sources of nur tur ing the call to serve as edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools. Forty-six per cent of respon dents attend the par ish connected with their school-a strik ing num ber, though not a major ity, con sid er ing mobil ity trends in our soci ety. From those in this group, 45% attended that same par ish prior to becom ing an edu ca tor at the Cath o lic school where they work. Mindful that nearly half (48%) of the par tic i pants indi cated engage ment in par ish life as a path way to work ing in a Cath o lic school, parishes and Cath o lic schools have an oppor tu nity to cre ate "Grow Your Own" pro grams by strength en ing rela tion ships between parish ion ers and school per son nel.
When asked whether they were engaged in activ i ties at their Cath o lic parishes, an extraor di nary 85% of respon dents said that they attended church reg u larly. About 11% have served as cat e chists in their parishes, about 6% have been involved in Bible study groups, and about 6% have taught the Rite of Chris tian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). Nearly 29% serve as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, about 16% as Lectors, and about 9% are mem bers of a choir.
As of 2020, there were 16,703 Cath o lic parishes in the United States (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, n.d.); only a lit tle over a quar ter of these parishes (26%) offer His panic min is try (Fifh National Encuentro of His panic/Latino Ministry, 2019). A very small per cent age of respon dents in the study (2%) indi cated that they were directly involved in His panic min is tries, and 17% indi cated that they col lab o rated with some one in their (arch)dio cese whose work focuses on His panic min is try. If more paro chial and dioc e san ofces of His panic min is try were to make a stron ger effort to col lab o rate with Cath o lic schools, it is pos si ble that more His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools would be open to col lab o rat ing with their pro jects. Increased col lab o ra tion also bears the pos si bil ity of uni fy ing and streamlining the mes sag ing and out reach needed to recruit and retain His panic chil dren, fam i lies, and edu ca tors within Cath o lic school com mu ni ties.
Parishes can play a major role in iden ti fy ing, recruiting, and mentoring Cath o lic school edu cators. Parish lead ers have an oppor tu nity, and per haps the respon si bil ity, to attract edu ca tors from within the par ish com mu nity. This hope, how ever, is curtailed by the fact that a large num ber of paro chial Cath o lic schools have closed or merged, or their via bil ity is in ques tion, espe cially at the ele men tary level (Shirley, 2019). A decade ago, there were nearly 4,253 paro chial ele men tary schools in the United States; today, that num ber has dropped to 3,138. The num ber of paro chial Cath o lic schools is get ting smaller and the con nec tion of many of these edu ca tional insti tu tions to parishes is more frag ile than ever before. However, we need fresher mod els that involve not only those parishes that spon sor Cath o lic schools but all parishes in iden ti fy ing future Cath o lic school teach ers and lead ers. A shared focus on His panic teach ers and lead ers may be a wel comed com mon goal at this time.
A final path way explored in the report is the immi grant jour ney. In our study, 40% of His panic teach ers and 27% of His panic school lead ers in Cath o lic schools self-iden ti fied as for eign-born. These edu ca tors come from 16 Span ish-speak ing countries: 33% immi grated from Mexico and 13% from Cuba (the top source countries), followed by Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela.
Foreign-born teach ers in the United States tend to be highly edu cated (Furuya et al., 2019). When exam in ing their edu ca tional back grounds, 95% have a bach e lor's degree, 54% a mas ter's degree, and 12% a doc toral degree. Respondents on aver age have worked for 12 years in the Catho lic school sys tem. These data indi cate that the major ity of immi grant His panic Cath o lic school edu ca tors come to their Cath o lic school com mu ni ties well-edu cated, and are deeply com mit ted.
Further, a large per cent age of immi grant His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools con vey a will ingness to be involved in the life of their school com mu ni ties. Sixty-four per cent of immi grant respondents noted that they were "very" or "some what involved" in cul tural diver sity mat ters and pro grams at their schools, and nearly half indi cated that they were involved in advo cacy efforts related to the His panic com mu nity (e.g., food secu rity, access to edu ca tion, immi gra tion). Such advo cacy extends into their com mu nity, as 34% of immi grant respon dents are involved in advo cacy around qual ity pub lic school edu ca tion. This dem on strates that immi grant His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools see them selves as advo cates for other immi grant and His panic stu dents and teach ers.
There are a vari ety of path ways that draw His panic edu ca tors to teach and lead in Cath o lic schools. Attentiveness to the impact alter na tive pro grams, min is tries, and life paths pro vide His panic indi vid u als as they con sider careers in the Cath o lic edu ca tion sec tor is impor tant.

Support Structures Within the Cath o lic School and Across the (Arch)Diocese
Support struc tures (e.g., mentoring, com mu ni ca tion with lead ers, and feed back on one's perfor mance) in a school and across any given edu ca tional sys tem play an impor tant role, influ enc ing reten tion and devel op ment of diverse tal ent (Ingersoll & May, 2011). For over a decade, empir i cal research has bol stered the prem ise that mentoring enhances growth in edu ca tors by pro vid ing ped a gog i cal as well as emo tional and psy cho log i cal sup port (Gist et al., 2021). The ben e fits of mentoring yield pos i tive out comes for the men tor, mentee, and orga ni za tion, high light ing the numer ous ben e fits of this prac tice (Gist et al., 2021). Mentoring may occur at any stage in an edu ca tor's career, dem on strat ing the value of pro fes sional guid ance across an edu ca tor's pro fessional and voca tional jour ney. While one-to-one mentoring is most com mon, mentoring groups of teach ers via small groups uti lized across pro fes sional learn ing col lab o ra tive designs has been found to be effec tive; more over, it pres ents an oppor tu nity to widen the net work of sup port among groups of edu ca tors within and across schools (Moir et al., 2009).
Of increas ing inter est is crit i cal mentoring, also known as same-race or afn ity-based men torship, where under rep re sented teach ers explore the "poten tial ben e fits of cul tur ally respon sive" mentoring (Gist et al., 2021, p. 34). Culturally respon sive mentoring explores "the need to bet ter under stand the local con texts in which teach ers work and the ways in which those con di tions shape the power rela tions between these teach ers and their men tors" (Gist et al., 2021, p. 34). The crit i cal men tor ship design allows teach ers from under rep re sented com mu ni ties to rec og nize their racial, cul tural, and social iden ti ties along with ways to lever age expe ri en tial knowl edge. It has been found to be an afr ma tive model of sup port for these teach ers (Gist et al., 2021).
Distinct to Cath o lic schools, mentoring has been found to con trib ute to the mis sion of a Cath o lic school and indi vid u als' pos i tive spir i tu al ity, pro mote devel op ment and learn ing, fos ter self-direc tion and auton omy, and cul ti vate a col lab o ra tive work place cul ture grounded in con tin uous learn ing (English, 2013). While research ers have widely pro moted men tor ship as a prom is ing prac tice for pro fes sional learn ing and devel op ment in Cath o lic schools, there is lit tle evi dence that for mal ized men tor ship pro grams have been embraced by Cath o lic school lead ers or that the effec tive ness of existing pro grams has been suf ciently inves ti gated (Vierstraete, 2005). Efforts to men tor His panic teach ers and lead ers (and other under rep re sented edu ca tors) in Cath o lic schools are even rarer.
Despite the evi dence on the impact of mentoring, our study revealed that a lit tle over half of respon dents were not assigned a men tor dur ing their first year of teach ing. For those edu ca tors who did receive a men tor their first year, more than half met monthly with their assigned men tor, a quar ter met once or twice a month, and some met a few times a year or never. For the major ity of respon dents who had a men tor dur ing their first year, three quar ters of the men tors taught in a sim i lar sub ject area or grade level as the mentee. Participants in inter views and focus groups shared that the design of first-year men tor ship was more likely to be one-on-one.
When reflecting on men tor ship pro vided by another edu ca tor of His panic back ground, exami na tion of a school's fac ulty com po si tion can pro vide insights into whether afn ity-based mentor ship is pos si ble within a given school com mu nity. The over whelm ing major ity of respon dents (90%) indi cated that there were other His panic fac ulty or staff employed at their school. While two thirds indi cated that they pur pose fully sought sup port from His panic col leagues, only 29% indi cated that they were mentored by some one who self-iden ti fied as His panic. Nearly two-thirds of sur vey respon dents indi cated that there were His panic Cath o lic school lead ers in their school com mu nity, the major ity (66%) of whom indi cated an open ness to pro fes sional men tor ship by these His panic Cath o lic school lead ers. Despite the rep re sen ta tion of His panic teach ers and leaders, crit i cal mentoring within Cath o lic schools is not com mon.
Survey respon dents indi cated that His panic-to-His panic edu ca tor mentoring across the (arch)dio cese was rarely com mon (6%) when com pared to gen eral or first-year mentoring opportu ni ties. A hand ful of par tic i pants commented dur ing inter views that they sought sup port from His panic men tors inde pen dent of their school or (arch)dio cese. Expanding and improv ing cur rent mentoring oppor tu ni ties will likely have a sig nifi cant and trans for ma tive impact on the reten tion of His panic Cath o lic teach ers and lead ers across the United States.
For edu ca tors to feel supported not only dur ing their first year, but through out their career, an empha sis on rela tion ships within a school com mu nity across the (arch)dio cese and across edu cational sec tors is crit i cal. Investing in the expan sion of an edu ca tor's social net work is nec es sary to sup port edu ca tors in their per sonal and pro fes sional growth. Doing this for His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools cre ates oppor tu ni ties for con nec tion, increas ing the poten tial to impact their reten tion in Cath o lic edu ca tional insti tu tions.
Additionally, the study found that His panic Cath o lic edu ca tors serve as a crit i cal source of support for other His panic edu ca tors in a vari ety of ways. A cherished cat e gory, gente puente-bridge build ers, in the His panic world view-illus trates well the role of His panic edu ca tors recruiting and retaining other His panic edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools. Gente puente con nect real i ties, pos si bil i ties, and dreams. They medi ate, curate, and bro ker. This form of agency posi tions His panic edu ca tional pro fes sion als as influencers and lead ers who under stand both the His panic and non-His panic worlds. His panic teach ers as gente puente func tion as archi tects of com mu nion in the Cath o lic schools where they serve, as well as in the larger Church and soci ety.
Gente puente not only share beliefs, but also fos ter poten tial and expand knowl edge in oth ers. This shar ing of skills and knowl edge leads to dreams sol idly built over time (Holland et al., 1998). Three out of four His panic teach ers in our study see them selves as gente puente for other His panic fam i lies, stu dents, and fel low teach ers. Among His panic school lead ers, this per cent age is even higher, as they see them selves as bridge build ers for His panic fam i lies (91%), stu dents (85%), and fel low teach ers (65%). As His panic lead ers embrace their iden tity as gente puente, they real ize the impact they have on future gen er a tions of His panic teach ers and lead ers.
Afrming their His panic and pro fes sional iden ti ties, grounded in a pro found sense of mis sion, His panic lead ers are instru men tal in cre at ing thriv ing school envi ron ments where His panic students, fam i lies, and edu ca tors feel at home. His panic teach ers in the class room exer cise their call ing to be gente puente by serv ing as men tors and increas ing the pos si bil i ties of achieve ment for underrep re sented stu dents (Ocasio, 2014). Their pres ence allows them to serve as role mod els, teacher encour ag ers, and men tors to other edu ca tors and under rep re sented stu dents. Their pres ence and con tri bu tions can coun ter act unfor tu nate and harm ful stig mas imposed upon His pan ics and other minoritized com mu ni ties in the United States (Martinez, 2015).

Recommendations
Cultivating diverse tal ent in an increas ingly His panic church requires the exis tence of an ecosys tem of col lab o ra tions work ing together to ensure the cul ti va tion, men tor ship, and sup port of His panic teach ers and lead ers. It takes a vil lage to achieve this goal. Within such an eco sys tem of col lab o ra tions, we want to high light at least five cru cial areas of part ner ship. The main goal of nam ing them together here is to explore strat e gies that increase dia logue, shar ing of resources, and a con certed effort to chal lenge silo men tal i ties that thrive in iso la tion or uncom pro mis ing com pe ti tion.
First, there is an urgent need to under stand well the pos si bil i ties and chal lenges of advanc ing the mis sion of Cath o lic schools in a diverse Church, espe cially as we wit ness the rapid growth of His panic fam i lies who can ben e fit from these insti tu tions. Such under stand ing needs to be grounded in solid research about His panic chil dren, fam i lies, and edu ca tors in Cath o lic schools. The Cultivating Talent report is a resource that illus trates Bos ton College's com mit ment to advanc ing research to gen er ate cre a tive and informed con ver sa tions, and the spe cial issue of the Journal of Cath o lic Education in which this arti cle appears dem on strates a com mit ment by a wide range of uni ver si ties work ing to meet this need.
Secondly, uni ver sity-based teacher/leader for ma tion pro grams play an impor tant role in recruiting and forming teach ers and lead ers at the ser vice of Cath o lic edu ca tional insti tu tions. As noted, the UCCE is an excel lent exam ple of recruiting and forming edu ca tors. While not all UCCE mem ber pro grams have devel oped spe cific ini tia tives to recruit and form His panic teach ers and lead ers, sev eral have done so-and more are in devel op ment. Further, Cath o lic edu ca tional insti tutions might con sider finan cial incen tives and other ways of mak ing Cath o lic teacher and lead er ship pro grams more attrac tive to pro spec tive His panic edu ca tors. A most nec es sary step is to expand col lab o ra tions with teacher/leader for ma tion pro grams beyond Cath o lic insti tu tions of higher edu ca tion, par tic u larly edu ca tion pro grams in pub lic insti tu tions of higher edu ca tion. Afer all , most His panic teach ers and lead ers work ing in Cath o lic schools have been trained in non-Cath o lic set tings.
Third, (arch)dio ceses and parishes can play a major role in fos ter ing dis cern ment among Hispan ics to con sider a voca tion to serve as teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools. The major ity of His panic edu ca tional lead ers in Cath o lic schools are actively involved in par ish life. Beyond such nat u ral exer cise of voca tional accom pa ni ment, many (arch)dio ceses do not have local pro grams to sup port teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools in such a pro cess of dis cern ment. The work of super in ten dents of Cath o lic schools in (arch)dio ceses, as well as that of prin ci pals at the local level, is cru cial in this regard. Not every non-His panic super in ten dent and prin ci pal, how ever, has devel oped the intercultural com pe ten cies to work with His panic teach ers and lead ers, not all treat the devel op ment of His panic lead er ship as a top pri or ity, and only a hand ful are them selves His panic. Some may feel at a loss try ing to sup port His panic teach ers and lead ers when these indi vid u als are pres ent in small num bers in their (arch)dio ceses and schools. We need to find ways to work together to sup port (arch)dioc e san-based teacher/leader pro grams to increase their focus on His panic teach ers and lead ers while cre at ing reg u lar spaces for dia logue and for ma tion about this impor tant area of Cath o lic edu ca tion across the United States.
Fourth, there are a grow ing num ber of con ver sa tions in the United States about how cur rent Cath o lic min is te rial and edu ca tional struc tures can bet ter meet the needs of the His panic Catho lic com mu nity. Such is the case of the Fifh National Encuentro of His panic/Latino Ministry, con voked by the United States Conference of Cath o lic Bishops (USCCB), and the Raíces y Alas con ven ing, con voked by the National Cath o lic Council for His panic Ministry (NCCHM) and the National Association of Cath o lic Diocesan Directors of His panic Ministry (NACDDHM). Yet, these efforts are led mainly by His panic Cath o lic lead ers who do not always par tic i pate in larger con ver sa tions about Cath o lic life and Cath o lic edu ca tion in the coun try. Also, while much emphasis is placed on the recruit ment of His panic chil dren and the sup port of their fam i lies in Cath o lic edu ca tion research and prac tice, rarely does the con ver sa tion focus on the urgency of mentoring and supporting His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools. There is a need for more integrated con ver sa tions that involve the above efforts in closer col lab o ra tion with the NCEA, the USCCB Committee for Cath o lic Education, the work of Cath o lic col le ges and uni ver si ties, and the var i ous other min is te rial and edu ca tional orga ni za tions that advo cate for a bet ter expe ri ence in Cath o lic schools. Such con ver sa tions must bring to the cen ter the cul ti va tion of His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools.
Finally, there is no doubt that Cath o lic edu ca tion in the United States thrives in large part thanks to the gen er os ity of count less indi vid u als, com mu ni ties, and foun da tions. One area in which there is more room for phil an thropic invest ment is the for ma tion, sup port, and mentoring of His panic teach ers and lead ers who are already in Cath o lic schools or are dis cern ing to serve in this role. Such invest ment can hap pen in var i ous ways: schol ar ships for teacher and leader prep a ra tion; grants and pro grams to boost salaries and com pen sa tion to reach increased par ity with other sec tors; reten tion pro grams and efforts (includ ing inten tional pro fes sional learn ing and pro fes sional devel op ment oppor tu ni ties); the cre a tion and sup port of dioc e san pro grams to recruit, sup port, and retain His panic teach ers and lead ers; and fur ther research efforts on His panic teach ers and lead ers in Cath o lic schools.

Conclusion and Invitation
Much of the anal y sis and data shared in this arti cle comes from our report Cultivating Talent: A Summary of Findings from the National Study Examining Pathways to Increase the Presence of His panic Teachers and Leaders in Cath o lic Schools (Ospino and Wyttenbach, 2022). We invite schol ars and prac ti tion ers to read the full report. The national research study ground ing this report has allowed us to get a glimpse of what His panic teach ers and lead ers bring to Cath o lic schools, giv ing us hope. It also identifies and doc u ments some of the chal lenges that His panic teach ers and lead ers face as they take the baton. We as a Church can not afford to ignore the con tri bu tions and the chal lenges of His panic teach ers and lead ers and, for that mat ter, those of any other group. Our invi ta tion is sim ple: Pay atten tion, start talking, and take action. We want to invite all Cath o lics in the United States to engage in syn odal dis cern ment about how to cul ti vate His panic tal ent in Cath o lic schools using this report as a resource.