North Carolina has a new teaching fellows program aimed at giving students at low performing schools access to high quality STEM education. The North Carolina NAACP isn't too happy about the program, however, because the teachers chosen to participate will likely be overwhelmingly white, the News & Observer reports.

Five schools were chosen to participate in the program: Elon University, Meredith College, N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Charlotte. All five of these institutions have majority white campuses.

North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, was the only HBCU that applied to the fellowship. It wasn't accepted. A total of 16 institutions applied.

Marion Gillis-Olion, a dean at North Carolina HBCU Fayetteville State University, said that Fayetteville didn't apply for the fellowship “because we did not have evidence that we currently meet the standards in the request for proposals.”

In order to be admitted into the program, schools had to meet a number of criteria including proving that its education majors have had high passage rates of teacher licensure tests, that its graduates have become effective teachers with "measure impact" in STEM and special education teaching and that it offers students frequent hands-on training in diverse classrooms.

Students from the five chosen schools that become teaching fellows through the program will be eligible to receive up to $8,250 per year in forgivable loans towards their tuition if they commit to becoming STEM or special education teachers in North Carolina public schools upon graduation. For each year they receive the money, students must promise to teach for two years in a successful public school, or one year in a struggling school.

The NAACP isn't happy with how things turned out with the program, and is speaking out, arguing that the decision creates a "discriminatory effect that is unacceptable in a state with such a problematic history of educational disparity and segregation.”

While the NAACP made it clear that it is happy that the program has been launched, NAACP President Reverend Dr. T. Anthony Spearman pointed out that teachers of color are underrepresented “even more so when compared to the percentage of students of color enrolled in our public school system who depend on teachers not only as educators, but as role models and examples of achievement and successful integration into our state and society."

A full 80 percent of North Carolina's teachers are white. Less than 50 percent of its students are white.

State officials said that they hope to expand the program to other schools if it is successful. For now, however, it will launch with the five predominately white institutions selected next year.

N.C. A&T State University

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