In the midst of a potential national teacher shortage exacerbated by COVID-19, there is another kind of crisis flying under the radar. Put plainly, the teaching force lacks meaningful diversity.
In a society that continually grows more diverse, with student populations reflecting this diversity, the teaching force is 80% white. Black teachers make up just 7% of the teaching force, and this is down from 9% just a decade ago. Surveys have estimated that white women account for as much as 85% of the teaching force.
Former Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Chief Education Officer Latanya McDade summarized the problems succinctly in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times:
“In the United States, we have a teacher workforce that is 80 percent white for a student population that in the five big districts is 80 to 90 percent students of color. That’s a problem.”
While this blog mainly outlines obstacles, solutions are within our grasp and will be discussed at the end.
Importance of Black Teachers for Black Students
Research by the National Collaborative on Diversity in the Teaching Force presents statistical evidence showing teachers of color have been directly linked to closing the achievement gap. White teachers have lower expectations for academic success for black students than do black teachers: white teachers are 30% less likely to predict a black student will complete a four-year college degree. When black students are taught by white teachers, their chances of being placed in a gifted program is nearly cut in half, even if they have the same test scores as their white peers. When black students are taught by black teachers, this gap disappears. Another measurable difference between white teachers and black teachers is how they perceive and respond to behavior. When looking at the exact same student, black teachers are much less likely to see behavioral problems in black students than a white teacher.
A separate study found strong long-term impacts of assigning a black male student in grades 3-5 to a black teacher. In fact, such teacher-student match ups reduce the probability of that student dropping out (approximately by 29%) and increase the chance that student will attend a four-year college.
Positive impacts such as these are the mitigating factors to the school-to-prison pipeline. Young black males, who make up a grossly disproportionate percentage of those who are incarcerated, are more likely to have better life outcomes when they see an older version of themselves teaching the class. Female students and students of other races can also benefit.
But all the black teachers are leaving…
“Putting a black man in the front of a classroom does a lot to shift the narrative about how young children perceive black men in this country.”
–William Hayes, The Fellowship.
We must pay specific attention to the retention of black male teachers, who represent a mere 2% of all teachers nationwide. Data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) highlights the uncharacteristically high turnover among minority teachers. Scholar Richard Ingersoll compared the SASS survey conducted in 1988-89, which found white teachers left the teaching force at a 13% rate and black teachers at 14%. Data from the 2012-13 survey shows white teacher departures are substantially similar at 15%, yet the percentage of black teachers leaving has skyrocketed to almost 25%.
This phenomenon has a historical context. In 1954, there were 82,000 black teachers in American public schools and within a decade of Brown v. Board of Education, that workforce was cut in half as all-black schools were shut down. Our schools and teachers have yet to recover.
Ingersoll, R., May, H., & Collins, G. (2017). Minority teacher recruitment, employment, and retention: 1987 to 2013. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
There are many reasons why black teachers leave the profession, as indicated by the graphs from the Minority Teacher Recruitment Report. The first chart demonstrates where minority teachers teach. Overwhelmingly, minority teachers find themselves in high poverty and high minority schools. More often than not, low-income students live in low-income neighborhoods, meaning there are fewer resources for teachers. A lack of supports consequently makes the job even more challenging, which is often attributed to teaching fatigue. However, data from the Learning Policy Institute paints a slightly different picture.
Ingersoll, R., May, H., & Collins, G. (2017). Minority teacher recruitment, employment, and retention: 1987 to 2013. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
This second chart is a visual representation of the reasons minority public school teachers who reported being dissatisfied left the teaching field. Overwhelmingly, the number one reason minority teachers left the field was due to dissatisfaction (50%) and the least contributing factor to teacher turnover is retirement (17%), followed by school staffing action (25%), to pursue another job (30%), and family or personal reasons (46%) (note that teachers surveyed could select more than one answer so the results do not add up to 100%).
More than Just a Shortage
Often, there is just one black male teacher on a teaching staff; therefore, it is not surprising that black male teachers report few opportunities for mentorship, professional development, and career advancement. Another contributing factor to the black male teacher shortage is the burden placed on them to serve as their schools’ disciplinarians, particularly for younger versions of themselves. Black high school history teachers are called into meetings to talk with students who wouldn’t do their work, or these teachers may have misbehaving students sent into their classes without warning. These actions add stress to an already stressful job.
These teachers report being the unofficial diversity experts of their schools, who may be tapped for promotions related to disciplining students, but not to teach advanced courses. It’s called the “invisible tax” and it leads to burnout and frustration. This is only further compounded by isolation, little support, and lack of an outlet to discuss these burdens. Such a void has not gone unnoticed, and programs across the country seek to fill the gaps.
When Jovan Shaw and Jason Terrell met as Teach For America roommates, they formed an instant bond. They stayed in touch even after their assignments and in 2014, they co-founded Profound Gentlemen. Profound Gentleman is a non-profit seeking to build a community of male educators of color, create space to build relationships, and reshape the narrative for black students at their schools.
The Fellowship is a non-profit based out of Philadelphia with a goal to double the number of black male teachers in the city by 2025. The founders seek to do this by recruiting more black men into the teaching field and retaining those already in the field.
The Fellowship is not the only organization of black male teachers of its kind–in fact, there is another closer to home.
Men of Color in Education was an initiative from the mayor’s office in collaboration with City Colleges of Chicago focused on supporting men of color going into the education field. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel described MOCE as, “the beginning of a ripple effect for men of color to continue teaching and mentoring their younger peers for generations to come.” MOCE is a three-semester program, led by educators of colors, who work with students interested in careers in education, allowing them to earn college-level credentials. It is effectively a pipeline increasing the number of black males in education, and it is accompanied by a system of mentors, support that too many black teachers do not even have.
The Way Forward
What the research clearly shows is that it is vital to hire and retain and support black males in the teaching profession. We are doing children, especially black children, a disservice if they cannot look to the front of the classroom and see someone that looks like them at least once in their K-12 education. We are doing our black male teachers a disservice by placing additional burdens on them while failing to provide professional and social supports. These factors contribute to achievement gaps and the school-to-prison pipeline.
To address these gaps, we should take action in the following two ways:
First, because black teachers only make up 2% of the national teaching profession, the emphasis must initially be on recruiting more into the profession.
Second, once recruited, we must support our black male teachers. To do so, we must alleviate rather than increase teaching and service burdens, promote them, and provide work-related spaces to discuss and address their concerns.
Principal Chris Goins of Butler College Prep created ‘Intro to Urban Education,’ a class focused on introducing students of color to the teaching profession. The students follow educational policy through a social justice lens, and Goins hopes to eventually offer scholarships for students seeking to go into the field, and even summer job opportunities. He leaves us with the following message:
“We’re a window because they can see the possibilities of going to college and majoring in education. And we’re mirrors because we look like them and they can relate and speak to us. Research confirms that kids need those affirmations in the classroom.”
The research is clear. The opportunities to support these initiatives are endless. We can say we want more black teachers in our classrooms. And we can work to make it happen.
Ashli Giles-Perkins is a 2020 graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and wrote this blog post as part of the Education Law Practicum.
