High School to Teacher (HSTT) Program

The High School to Teacher program — known as HSTT and later renamed the Teacher Cadet program — was one of Boston Public Schools' most forward-looking investments in its own future. Rather than waiting for college graduates to decide on teaching, HSTT reached students as early as ninth grade and built a pipeline that extended through high school graduation, into college, and back to BPS as credentialed teachers. The premise was straightforward: the students who grew up in Boston's classrooms understood those classrooms in ways that outside recruits never could.

Program Design

HSTT operated as a multi-year commitment. Students entered during their freshman year at participating BPS high schools and remained in the program through graduation. The experience was structured around three core elements: academic enrichment, mentoring relationships, and direct exposure to teaching as a profession.

Academic Support

HSTT participants received targeted academic support designed to prepare them for college-level coursework in education. This included tutoring in core subjects, SAT and college entrance exam preparation, assistance with college applications and financial aid, and coursework that introduced foundational concepts in pedagogy and child development. The goal was to ensure that every HSTT student graduated high school not only eligible for college but genuinely prepared to succeed there.

Mentoring

Each student in the program was connected with adult mentors, including current BPS teachers, college students in education programs, and community professionals. These mentoring relationships provided guidance on academic decisions, career planning, and the personal challenges of adolescence. For many participants, their HSTT mentor was the first person in their lives who had navigated the path from a Boston neighborhood to a professional career in education.

Teaching Exposure

HSTT gave students hands-on experience in educational settings well before they reached college. Participants observed classrooms, assisted teachers, led small-group activities with younger students, and reflected on those experiences in structured seminar sessions. This early exposure helped students develop a realistic understanding of what teaching requires and allowed them to build the skills and confidence they would need in college-level practicum courses.

The College Bridge

HSTT's commitment to its participants did not end at high school graduation. The program maintained contact with alumni as they moved through college, providing ongoing mentoring, summer opportunities back in BPS schools, and connections to teacher preparation programs at partner institutions. This bridge was essential: national data consistently showed that many students who expressed interest in teaching during high school shifted to other careers during college. HSTT's continued engagement was designed to sustain that commitment through the college years and into the job market.

The Algebra 1 Grand Challenge

One of the program's most notable achievements was its partnership with the Young People's Project on the Algebra 1 Grand Challenge. This initiative engaged HSTT students in peer-to-peer math instruction, with high school participants serving as math literacy workers who helped younger students build algebra skills through hands-on, community-based learning. The project earned recognition at the national level and demonstrated the power of near-peer teaching — the idea that students learn effectively from others who are only a few years ahead of them and who share similar backgrounds and experiences.

Transition to Teacher Cadet

The program was eventually renamed the Teacher Cadet program, reflecting both its evolution and its alignment with similar cadet-model programs operating in school districts around the country. The rebranding accompanied updates to the curriculum and partnership structure, but the core mission remained unchanged: identify young Bostonians with the potential and desire to teach, invest in them early, and create a supported pathway back to BPS classrooms.

Workforce Diversity Impact

HSTT was a direct response to one of the most persistent challenges in American public education: the gap between the demographics of the student body and the demographics of the teaching workforce. In Boston, where the majority of public school students were students of color, the teaching staff was significantly less diverse. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that this gap has measurable consequences — for student achievement, for school culture, and for students' sense of belonging.

By recruiting from within the student population itself, HSTT built a pipeline that was inherently more representative. Participants came from the same neighborhoods, spoke the same languages, and understood the same cultural contexts as the students they would eventually teach. This was not a secondary benefit of the program — it was the central purpose.

HSTT was administered by the Office of Recruitment, Cultivation & Diversity Programs (RCD) within BPS Human Capital, alongside complementary initiatives like the ACTT program for paraprofessionals and the Male Educators of Color leadership cohort.