Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium
Our Foundation for the Next Horizon
The Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) is a statewide community of students, educators, leaders, policymakers, families, and partners working to strengthen educator diversity and advance culturally relevant and sustaining education.
As part of the development of PEDC 2030: The Next Horizon, PEDC's Vision, Mission, Who We Are, and What We Do statements were revisited and refined to reflect the organization's continued growth, learning, and evolving role within Pennsylvania's educational ecosystem and beyond.
Together, these statements articulate who we are, why our work matters, the future we seek to create, and the unique role PEDC plays in advancing educator diversity and culturally relevant and sustaining education. They provide the foundation for this strategic plan and guide the decisions, partnerships, investments, and actions that will shape our work over the next three years.
The Theory of Action that follows connects our purpose to our strategy. It reflects what we believe must happen to strengthen educator diversity, advance culturally relevant and sustaining education, and create the conditions necessary as we work toward long-term systems change.
Together, these foundational statements establish the framework for PEDC 2030: The Next Horizon and the priorities that follow.
01
Vision
The imbalance in our education system isn't sustainable. In many classrooms, educators don't reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.
PEDC stands firmly as leaders working to build an education system where diversity and culturally sustaining practice are in every classroom, and in every school. How? By bringing together partners, aligning policies, and strengthening systems so that districts and institutions can recruit, hire, prepare, support, and retain educators of color, while equipping every educator to teach in culturally relevant and sustaining ways.
We see a future where educator diversity is central to educational excellence, and where schools and universities, the cornerstone of our communities, reflect the dignity, diversity, and lived wisdom of the communities they represent.
To make that future real, PEDC is developing educator ecosystems where teachers of color are recruited, supported, and sustained, and where culturally relevant and sustaining education becomes the standard for every educator, regardless of their demographic identity.
Grounded in Pennsylvania's complexity and possibility, our work serves as a living model of what equity-rooted systems can look like when put into action. Collectively, we have the power to influence national policy, shape broader educational practice, and contribute to global conversations about human-centered learning in an era of rapid change.
Simply put, the future of education must be equity-driven, culturally sustaining, and unapologetically human. We invite students, families, educators, policymakers, partners, and communities to help us build it.
02
Mission
PEDC is the driving force for educator diversity and culturally relevant and sustaining education in Pennsylvania and beyond.
We convene, collaborate, create resources, and advocate alongside the education ecosystem to strengthen pathways for educators of color and to ensure that culturally relevant and sustaining education becomes the standard, creating the conditions for educators and students to thrive.
Grounded in relationships, lived experience, and collective action, we're shaping models that can transform educational systems nationwide.
03
Who We Are
Rooted in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) is a pioneering community of students, educators, leaders, policymakers, families, and partners working together to strengthen educator diversity and advance culturally relevant and sustaining education.
As a statewide platform with national relevance, PEDC connects classroom realities with policy and community leadership to create lasting educational change.
We are a relationship-based movement grounded in lived experience and collective action.
Because when teachers reflect life, students thrive.
04
What We Do
From Pennsylvania, for Everyone
The work of tomorrow is happening here.
Pennsylvania is a microcosm of the national challenge — rural, suburban, and urban, diverse and at times inequitable, politically divided, and deeply resilient. If sustainable educator diversity can take root here, it can take root anywhere. That's not only inspiring, it shows the nation what's truly possible.
That's why what happens in Pennsylvania matters so much. We're writing the next chapter of education in real time. The country's future is already here, in our classrooms. We are where the nation is headed.
PEDC exists to strengthen educator diversity, make culturally relevant and sustaining education the norm, and create the conditions for teachers of color to stay and thrive. We're doing this by responding to daily realities, not just testing ideas. We're here to show the country (and the world) what it actually takes to build systems where students feel seen and valued, and where all educators are supported to teach in ways that honor culture, identity, and lived experience.
PEDC leads this work from within both communities and classrooms, creating spaces of sanctuary where educators of color do not have to perform, compete, or pretend. Across Pennsylvania, we are helping move conversations, coalitions, and commitments toward a more equitable future for education. And what we build here has the power to reshape how education works everywhere.