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The Future Is Male: Why California Needs More Male Teachers of Color - KQED

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The Future Is Male: Why California Needs More Male Teachers of Color - KQED

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Darryl McKellar has been teaching for 20 years. "I'm like Batman," he said. "I use every trick in my utility belt to get a kid to buy into education." (Vanessa Rancano/KQED )

Darryl McKellar makes teaching look easy. Over 20 years in the classroom, the English teacher has mastered some of the job's trickiest tasks.

"Why drama?" McKellar asks.

"When you win a lot of money, it causes a lot of controversy," she says.

Changing that is top of mind for Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction. He has made closing the achievement gap for students of color a central part of his mission, and he says diversifying the teacher workforce is key.

A Pipeline for Male Teachers of Color

He also tries to impart skills that he says aren't always taught in teacher prep programs, like how to connect with students from a social-emotional standpoint.

College graduates of color are disproportionately burdened by debt. On average, black college graduates owe over $7,000 more than white peers when they earn their B.A. A few years later, that black-white gap has tripled to $25,000. When weighing a student loan load against a future salary, teaching can make for a tough proposition.

"I would not be here if it wasn't for that extra money," said Flores, who got a $5,000 scholarship.

The efforts to change that are showing some promise: At Dominguez Hills, there were just two Latino elementary teacher candidates in the fall of 2017. The following year, there were 14; at CSULA, the number of Asian males rose from two to 11, and for black males from zero to three.

In general, at the six schools numbers went up significantly for Latinos, slightly for black men and results were mixed for Asian men-rising in some cases, dropping in others.

California Department of Education leaders met with Future Minority Male Teachers of California directors earlier this year, and Thurmond said proposals are in the works to build out the program across the CSU system.

"California is really on the precipice of being the leader in teacher preparation," said Thurmond. "But right now we're pulling together resources to help expand some of these bright spots that we see."

While the added support may help get men of color into and through teacher training and into classrooms, the next challenge is keeping them there.
The California Dream series is a statewide media collaboration of CalMatters, KPBS, KPCC, KQED and Capital Public Radio, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the James Irvine Foundation and the College Futures Foundation.
Future Minority Male Teachers of California wants to get more men of color teaching in elementary grades, where they're most rare and where they could have the biggest impact on achievement gaps.

"That's the real unicorn in education," said John Davis, dean of the College of Education at CSU Dominguez Hills. "How do we get men of color to teach at that primary level?"

During the 2015-16 school year, of the roughly 900 students preparing to become elementary school teachers at the six CSUs participating in the program, only 4% were Latino men, 1% were Asian men and 0.4% were African American men.

"I'm giving you the cheat codes," he said of his role as a mentor. "I'm giving you all the nuances I wasn't privy to."

Flores credits the program, and McKellar, for keeping him on the teaching track. He said he almost quit early on after a veteran teacher warned him away from the profession, saying it's underpaid and undervalued.

"I was kinda on the ropes, like should I continue?" he said. "But getting into this program and speaking with the male educators helped me reject that type of thinking."

The program also offers small scholarships to help pay for school. Research suggests that subsidizing the cost of teacher education is one of the best ways to remove barriers keeping people of color from joining the profession.

For 28-year-old Fabian Flores, it's not unusual to be one of the few men in his classes at California State University, Dominguez Hills College of Education.

So he's finding the support of a group for aspiring male teachers of color lifesaving.

"I'm not alone," he said. "I'm not the only one struggling with this, I'm not the only male that wants to become an educator."

Flores is part of a program called Future Minority Male Teachers of California, an experiment that got underway in 2017. The goal is to improve the pipeline for men of color who want to teach by focusing on recruitment from the local community, plus financial, instructional and emotional support from peers and veteran teachers. A handful of California State University colleges of education are testing the program, but there's hope to expand systemwide.

McKellar is a mentor in the program at CSU Dominguez Hills, in Los Angeles. "I encourage them to use all of their experiences as a person of color," he said.

"Even one teacher of color in a school is enough for students of color to do better academically," he said, citing studies that show long-term positive benefits.

Three-quarters of California students in traditional public and charter schools are of color, compared to about a third of teachers. But in McKellar his students have something especially rare: Fewer than 10% of the state's teachers are men of color and just 1% are black men like him.

McKellar's ninth-grade students Elijah Foster and Tyler Banner say having a man in front of the class is still a new experience.

They've been taught almost exclusively by women, and they say having a male teacher changes the dynamic. "It feels like the man expects more out of you," Banner said. "You see them as, like, the homie," Foster added. "Like a close friend - trustable."

"They need to see someone in front of them who says, 'This thing called education is going to work out just fine,' " McKellar said of his male students. "Me being in front of students, being a black man, and dispelling every stereotype about what we bring to the table, that's my motivation."

"Mo' money, mo' problems. Who said it?" McKellar asks.

There's some murmuring. It sounds familiar, but these kids weren't around in the '90s. "It's ... a rapper?" one student ventures.

"Wait," McKellar says, launching into a pretty spot-on impression. "Uh huh, uh huh, baby baby." The students laugh.

"Biggie Smalls!" a student says.

McKellar nods. "Notorious B.I.G. But he also says we can't expect to change the world until we do what? Change who? Change yourself."

He looks pleased with himself as the students pair up and dive into the assignment. "I'm like Batman," he says. "I use every trick in my utility belt to get a kid to buy into education."

Role Models in the Classroom

For these students, having a teacher of color like McKellar - who has high expectations, can relate to their experiences and serve as a role model - could make a big difference. When students of color have teachers of color, there's evidence they learn more, finish high school at higher rates and are more likely to go to college. For instance, one study found having at least one black teacher from third to fifth grade cut the high school dropout rate in half for black boys.

But the number of teachers of color in California isn't keeping pace with the diversity of its student body.

Today, he has a writing assignment for the 10th-graders in his second-period class, based on a short story they read, "The Lottery."

"When I say lottery, what do you think? Breanna, what do you think?"

"Drama," she says.

'Even one teacher of color in a school is enough for students of color to do better academically.' Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction

'That's the real unicorn in education: How do we get men of color to teach at that primary level?' John Davis, dean of the College of Education at CSU Dominguez Hills

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The Future Is Male: Why California Needs More Male Teachers of Color | KQED

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Darryl McKellar has been teaching for 20 years. "I'm like Batman," he said. "I use every trick in my utility belt to get a kid to buy into education." (Vanessa Rancano/KQED ) Darryl McKellar makes teaching look easy. Over 20 years in the classroom, the English teacher has mastered some of the job's trickiest tasks.

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Seen, Heard, Reflected: Education Trust-West Launches New Campaign to Address California’s Teacher of Color Shortage - The Education Trust

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Seen, Heard, Reflected: Education Trust-West Launches New Campaign to Address California’s Teacher of Color Shortage - The Education Trust

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Seen, Heard, Reflected: Education Trust-West Launches New Campaign to Address California’s Teacher of Color Shortage - The Education Trust - West

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT:Jason Mandelljason@larsonpr.com(213) 500-9142OAKLAND, CA (November 5, 2019) - In California, while more than 3 out of 4…

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Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous TeachersEdited by Conra D. Gist and Travis J. Bristol

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Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous TeachersEdited by Conra D. Gist and Travis J. Bristol

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Praise from AERA Presidents for Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers, edited by Conra D. Gist and Travis J. Bristol

"This timely, engaging, and comprehensive handbook describes ingenious, visionary, and effective ways to recruit and educate students of color and Indigenous students to acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become transformative teachers in the nation's increasingly diverse, complex, and challenging schools. It is an essential reference for teacher educators."- James A. Banks, Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies Emeritus, University of Washington, Seattle; AERA President 1997-1998

"This handbook is a comprehensive and powerful assemblage of work that looks at research on teachers of color and indigenous teachers. More importantly, it showcases the voices of the next generation of scholars who will lead in this area and push the research and literature to the next level. It is a must-have for teacher educators."- Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, Professor Emerita and former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison; AERA President 2005-2006

"This handbook is timely. It provides a breadth of research documenting systemic efforts to recruit teachers from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and captures the breadth of repertoires that a diverse teaching force offers for the wholistic development of children and adolescents in the K-12 sector, as well as in higher education. The volume is international in scope and addresses implications for both pedagogy and practice. It is a powerful resource for teacher education programs, school districts, and policy makers and researchers, all of whom play pivotal roles in diversifying our teaching force."- Carol D. Lee, Edwina S. Tarry Professor Emerita, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University; AERA President 2009-2010

"This expansive and ambitious handbook is distinguished along so many dimensions. It advances a prospective and hopeful research agenda as it attends to a rich history of ideas, policies, and practices that have defined the professional and everyday lives of teachers of color and Indigenous teachers. A veritable "Who's Who" of teachers and scholars/educators/activists of color animates the book's key topics and concepts central to an ethnically and racially diverse educator workforce."- Kris D. Gutiérrez, Carol Liu Professor and Associate Dean, GSE, University of California, Berkeley; AERA President 2010-2011

"Conra D. Gist and Travis J. Bristol have carefully curated, for this timely handbook, the work of leading and emerging scholars engaged in research centered on critical issues related to diversity in teaching and teacher education. The volume is singular in its clear and intentional focus on Black, Indigenous, and other teachers of color-from their recruitment into the profession, through their preparation, professional development, and retention, to the impact these teachers have on their students' educational outcomes. With its clarion call to diversify the teaching profession, as well as its practice-oriented and shared knowledge, this handbook provides a research-based roadmap for the critical work needed in teacher education, education policy, and K-12 settings."- Deborah Loewenberg Ball, William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, University of Michigan; AERA President 2017-2018

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Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers

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Praise from AERA Presidents for Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers, edited by Conra D. Gist and Travis J. Bristol "This timely, engaging, and comprehensive handbook describes ingenious, visionary, and effective ways to recruit and educate students of color and Indigenous students to acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become transformative teachers in the nation's increasingly diverse, complex, and challenging schools.

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Title

Issaquah Protocol

Description

A process which deals with dilemmas and models good questioning and coaching skills. TUses a process which models the developmentally appropriate order for questioning in coaching/consulting situations. It can be especially useful for coaches who can look at their own work, and, at the same time, model and reinforce the steps they would use in the field.

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Issaquah Protocol – School Reform Initiative

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A process which deals with dilemmas and models good questioning and coaching skills. TUses a process which models the developmentally appropriate order for questioning in coaching/consulting situations. It can be especially useful for coaches who can look at their own work, and, at the same time, mo…

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Black Teachers on Creating Affirming School Cultures - Teach Plus

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Black Teachers on Creating Affirming School Cultures - Teach Plus

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To Be Who We Are_ Black Teachers on Creating Affirming School Cultures.pdf

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POLICY BRIEF: Improving Teacher Retention by Addressing Teachers' Compassion Fatigue

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POLICY BRIEF: Improving Teacher Retention by Addressing Teachers' Compassion Fatigue

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Racial Affinity Groups: Guide for School Leaders, Great Schools Partnership

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Racial Affinity Groups: Guide for School Leaders, Great Schools Partnership

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Racial Affinity Groups: Guide for School Leaders | Great Schools Partnership

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Racial Affinity Groups: Guide for School Leaders Download this tool as a printer-friendly PDF "Before I found affinity groups, I struggled to breathe. For 15 years, my tank was empty. I was exhausted beyond measure. Being the only African American educator and administrator in my predominately white institution had almost worn me down completely."

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SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach

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SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach

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Compton Male Teachers of Color Network - Compton - Compton Schools

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Compton Male Teachers of Color Network - Compton - Compton Schools

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'I Feel That I’m Needed': An Effort to Keep Male Teachers of Color in the Classroom - KQED

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'I Feel That I’m Needed': An Effort to Keep Male Teachers of Color in the Classroom - KQED

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Bristol helped conceive some of those programs after studying the experiences of male teachers of color.

"There was nothing in their professional development that helped them understand and make sense of these unique challenges that they believed were a result of their race and gender," he says.

Now, at Godinez's school in Compton, Bristol is experimenting with something a little different. Here, school leadership is working directly alongside those teachers.

"It's not enough to just focus on the men of color. You have to focus on the organization that they're in," Bristol says. "If you're going to support teachers, you have to recreate and reimagine the condition of the school they're in, and the person who leads that is the principal."

Among teachers of color who cited job dissatisfaction as a reason for leaving the profession, over 80% named frustration with administrators as the source of their discontent, according to the LPI study.
'Like an AA Class for Teachers'
On a Saturday at Dominguez High School in Compton, a dozen teachers are gathered in the library, along with the principal, assistant principal and district superintendent.

"Good morning, good morning!" Principal Blain Watson greets them. "Welcome back to our Compton Male Teachers of Color Network meeting."

The teachers recently paired up and visited each other's classrooms and begin to discuss some of the strategies they discovered.

"What I noticed in Mr. Ojini's class - he was saying don't worry about the mistakes, it's OK to make mistakes," Dominguez High School math teacher Chung Mo Kim tells the group. He explains his own tendency to criticize repeated mistakes. "I think I kind of put the kids a little more on the defensive. I need to empathize with the students more."

Other teachers mention tech tools they discovered or new educational materials. They consider the value of class time spent getting to know students personally, and how shaking each student's hand at the door can build rapport.

Eric Wells, a history teacher also from Dominguez High, says that learning from fellow teachers in a nonjudgmental space gives him inspiration and makes him feel less isolated. "A lot of times in a classroom you can feel like I'm the only one dealing with this," he says. "So to hear other people have gone through it, it's almost like an AA class for teachers."

These meetings are as much a source of camaraderie and nourishment as a place to develop and share expertise. So on this Saturday, the group turns to talking about a campus lockdown that happened a day earlier when a student made a violent threat. Bristol asks the teachers how they're feeling about it.

"Our kids don't know how to react to that trauma because they're kids," Godinez says. "It's like we have to model that."

But what really frustrates him is how parents can thwart those efforts. "Sometimes you call a parent because the child's been in a fight, and the parent's coming down here to get into a fight with someone, you know, and escalate it."

"We're here for the kids," Godinez adds. "But it's like the whole community needs the help."
'He Needs Help Just Like We Do'
As the teachers talk, Principal Watson listens intently. "I've literally woken up in the middle of the night thinking about kids here at school, like are they OK?," he says. "We're talking about self care - I don't know how to care for myself when I'm waking up thinking about someone else's children, right? I don't know how to deal with that."

This is a place where even the principal doesn't have to have things figured out. Dominguez High special education teacher Damon Stokes says seeing Watson show such vulnerability helps humanizes him. "I was like, 'wow.' I thought he had it all together. He needs help just like we do," he says.

The experience, Stokes says, has changed how he relates to Watson. "Before I just thought he was this hard principal," he says, noting that he used to take it personally when Watson seemed upset. "Now, when I look in his face I can see he's in distress, or something's bothering him."

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'I Feel That I'm Needed': An Effort to Keep Male Teachers of Color in the Classroom | KQED

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Bristol helped conceive some of those programs after studying the experiences of male teachers of color. "There was nothing in their professional development that helped them understand and make sense of these unique challenges that they believed were a result of their race and gender," he says.

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How to Increase the Diversity of California's Educator Workforce - California Department of Education

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How to Increase the Diversity of California's Educator Workforce - California Department of Education

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Racial Affinity Group Tools: Guide for School Leaders

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Racial Affinity Group Tools: Guide for School Leaders

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A racial affinity group is a group of people sharing a common race who gather with the intention of finding connection, support, and inspiration. Racial affinity groups can happen within any profession or organization, including education. The resources below are specifically targeted to the development of racial affinity groups for educators of color where such groups can provide participants support to survive the racial isolation that exists in many schools and institutions.

A diverse educator workforce is an essential component of educational equity. For additional context on diversifying the educator workforce, please read this report.

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Educational Equity | Great Schools Partnership

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Educational Equity At the Great Schools Partnership, we define educational equity as ensuring just outcomes for each student, raising marginalized voices, and challenging the imbalance of power and privilege. The tools within this toolkit can help individuals or school communities understand and reflect on educational equity, while also evaluating their performance based on a variety ...

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Educational Affinity Groups: The Why and How - Columbia Social Work Review

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Educational Affinity Groups: The Why and How - Columbia Social Work Review

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"White-identifying students can move to the room next door."
At Columbia University School of Social Work, first-year masters-level students are required to take Decolonizing Social Work, a foundational course that delves into issues of privilege and oppression. I felt a palpable awkwardness one day when we were asked to split into "affinity groups" by race. White students would discuss a set of questions in one room, and students of color would discuss a related set of questions in another room.

I soon learned that this practice is well-established, and not just within the gates of Columbia University. Schools, workplaces, and social groups around the country have implemented "educational affinity groups" where members of a shared identity (race, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, ability status, etc.) engage in activities and discussion centered around their identity.

Educational affinity groups are organized in formal and intentional ways. By occupying a space and time, and establishing ground rules for the group, they offer a sense of security not found in sporadic gatherings. They are typically facilitated by people uniquely qualified - personally or professionally - to lead a thoughtful discussion. While the term "affinity group" is used differently in other contexts, the present article will focus on the pedagogical practice.

Both the academic literature and the current iterations of this practice have suggested that educational affinity groups are a powerful tool for identity development, mental wellbeing, and social justice advancement. However, organizers must take certain considerations into account. This article argues for the utility of educational affinity groups while including three concrete recommendations for organizers.
The Basis for Educational Affinity Groups
Even after the end of de jure segregation, when crucial settings for identity development (first and foremost, schools) became more diverse, people have continued to form groups on the basis of shared identity. This type of voluntary grouping is understood by researchers as a necessary tool for development (Chun, 2016).

In 1971, William Cross proposed his racial identity model, a landmark contribution to this line of research. Cross argued that Black youth routinely undergo an "immersion" phase in adolescence, in which they actively surround themselves with symbols of their race. In this phase, Black youth reject the White-normative views they were raised with and explore their history and culture with others from their background.

Spelman College President Beverly Tatum has cited Cross's work in her studies of race. She drew on Cross's immersion phase to explain her observed pattern of Black youth congregating in schools. She argues that this behavior is a way for Black children to explore their identity.
Educational affinity groups exemplify the ideas of Cross and Tatum by bringing people of similar backgrounds together. Furthermore, the collaborative nature of these groups, where students may process ideas about identity on their own terms, treats students as the co-creators of knowledge. In this sense, educational affinity groups also reflect the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire.

In practice, educational affinity groups have been well-received at schools, businesses, and other organizations. A 2015 article in the publication Teaching Tolerance states that affinity groups provide a safe space for people of marginalized identities to meet and ultimately "transfer their discussion into action" to create a more equitable school environment. One student in the article credited affinity groups for empowering him to come out as transgender, stating that the group took a "weight off his back" and gave him confidence. A 2019 article in the journal Teaching Education reports that an affinity group for teachers of color provided a crucial space for learning and healing. The article advocated for the necessity of affinity groups to support educators' "personal, political, relational, and pedagogical growth." The Society for Human Resource Management credits affinity groups for increasing diversity, morale, and productivity.
Challenges and Recommendations
The previous section suggested that shared identity spaces yield great potential for positive outcomes. Yet, organizing these spaces also presents a number of challenges.

Without the right support, participants of educational affinity groups may define identity characteristics in ways that are arbitrary and even detrimental. Tatum cites cases where Black youth have associated academic success with Whiteness. These youth were discouraged from performing well at school, worried that doing so would invalidate their racial identity (Tatum, 1997). A poorly facilitated group may pressure students to act in ways that are not true to themselves, or even in ways that are directly harmful to them.

Furthermore, grouping people together who share a certain identity marker does not necessarily produce an inclusive environment. Without due consideration, individual group members may still feel that they are silenced by more dominant group members. They may dislike the group's activities but feel they have little say in the planning.

The following three recommendations aim to create supportive spaces in which participants can openly engage and learn.
Recommendation 1: Organizer Proficiency
Group members may most benefit when the group includes organizers who are knowledgeable about the relevant identity and social justice discussion. Without this type of support, the group is vulnerable to arriving at harmful ideas, such as the association between Blackness and poor academic performance noted earlier.

They should also be familiar with how other affinity groups have been conducted. While the affinity groups at Columbia effectively covered biases against people of color, they also received criticism for being too negative. For example, questions like "What power do White folks hold in society?" were more common than questions like, "What do you love about your identity?" Organizers should consider the positive and negative aspects of any given prompt and balance these prompts accordingly.
Finally, organizers better serve group members by being well-versed in specific resources. For example, if a participant discloses that they are the victim of a hate crime, it would be ideal for the organizers to be able to refer them to the appropriate legal services.
Recommendation 2: Group Intentions
Organizers need to think critically about what their group should hope to achieve. Should the group be a space where people contemplate identity in an academic way? Should it be more of a hangout? Should it be more of a counseling space, where people can process negative experiences they have had? The ground rules and the activities should all be tailored toward the agreed-upon goals.
Recommendation 3: Collaboration
Group members are best served if they may engage in the planning process. The success stories about affinity groups rarely incorporate the "banking model" criticized by Freire, where participants absorb information from an indisputable source. In contrast, participants must be actively involved in their learning and all group matters.

Organizers may ask group members about their intentions and expectations, above and beyond ground rules. They may ask group members what they hope to get out of the group. Every group decision must involve transparency and democracy. Organizers may even choose to share leadership. For example, they may allow a different group member to lead every session.

In short, the present literature strongly supports the use of educational affinity groups as a tool to facilitate identity development, mental wellbeing, and social justice advancement. These recommendations address the challenges inherent in the planning process and bring organizers closer to the ideal supportive, pedagogical space.
References
Bell, M. K. (2015). Making Space. Teaching Tolerance. Retrieved from
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/summer-2015/making-space
Cross, W. E. (1971). The Negro to Black Conversion Experience. Brooklyn: The East.

Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Pour-Khorshid, F. (2019). Cultivating sacred spaces: a racial affinity group approach to

support critical educators of color. Teaching Education, 29(4), 318-329. doi:

10.1080/10476210.2018.1512092

Tatum, B. D. (1997). "Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?" And other

conversations about the development of racial identity. New York: BasicBooks.

Taylor, M. P. (2019, October 11). Today's Affinity Groups: Risks and Rewards. Retrieved

from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/af finity-groups-risks-rewards.aspx

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Educational Affinity Groups: The Why and How

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"White-identifying students can move to the room next door."At Columbia University School of Social Work, first-year masters-level students are required to take Decolonizing Social Work, a foundational course that delves into issues of privilege and oppression. I felt a palpable awkwardness one day when we were asked to split into "affinity groups" by race.

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A Space to Be Whole: A Landscape Analysis of Education-Based Racial Affinity Groups in the U.S. - National Equity Project

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A Space to Be Whole: A Landscape Analysis of Education-Based Racial Affinity Groups in the U.S. - National Equity Project

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Featured Research
by Jessica Lee Stovall and Dr. Micia Mosely | Race Ethnicity and Education, October 7, 2022
This article presents findings from an empirical study that sought to understand how Black teachers collectively built a Black affinity space in response to the antiblackness they faced in their school sites. Analyses of interview and participant observation data point to the importance of Black teachers creating spaces reminiscent of a homeplace, where they can speak and act with their full selves through play, humor, and various expressions of Blackness. The article argues that the concept of affinity spaces is insufficient to describe what the teachers in the study collectively built. Instead, we draw on notions of fugitivity from Black Studies to theorize this space as a pro-Black fugitive space. We argue that these Black teacher fugitive spaces are rehumanizing and sustaining for Black teachers, offering implications for Black teacher support and retention.

A Space to Be Whole: A Landscape Analysis of Education-Based Racial Affinity Groups in the U.S. is a national landscape analysis of racial affinity groups focused on supporting educators of color. The report is intended to: 1) document national and state organizations; 2) highlight similarities and differences between groups; 3) explore potential collaborations between affinity space approaches; and 4) identify policy and activism implications of racial affinity work.

The report explores how and why Black teachers and other teachers of color participate in affinity spaces in order to gain and share a comprehensive awareness regarding educator-based racial affinity groups nationwide; and inform a policy-advocacy platform that promotes racial affinity groups to support educator development and sustainability.

The report was written and researched by April Warren-Grice of Liberated Genius, commissioned by the Black Teacher Project and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

We hosted an introductory webinar in June 2021. Watch and share the video below to hear from researcher and author Dr. April Warren-Grice of Liberated Genius, Dr. Micia Mosely of the Black Teacher Project, and LaShawn Routé Chatmon of the National Equity Project in conversation about the report findings, surprises, and policy implications.

"Through Our Eyes: Perspectives and Reflections From Black Teachers" represents the qualitative data Ed Trust collected from focus group sessions of 150 Black teachers from across the country.

With African Americans making up only 7 percent of the teaching workforce, "Through Our Eyes" adds some of the much-needed substance that has been absent from the teacher diversity conversation. It uncovers the challenges Black teachers face in classrooms and schools, surfacing issues that contribute to low retention rates among teachers of color.

In our pilot year, BTP offered racial affinity-based professional development supports for Black teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, and sought to understand the impact on the teachers who participated. This article describes the findings from these supports, including a yearlong book study, inquiry groups, and drop-in "Rejuvenation Spaces." A key finding from this initial pilot study is that racial affinity-based professional development decreases isolation and increases retention for Black teachers.

Durey, Emily, The Atlantic: The Burden of Being A Black Teacher
Books

A Class of They Own: Black Teachers in the Segregated South by Adam Fairclough

Black Teachers On Teaching by Michelle Foster

In Search of Wholeness: African American Teachers and Their Culturally Specific Pedagogy by Jacqueline Jordan Irvine

Beyond The Big House: African American Educators On Teacher Education by Gloria Ladson-Billings

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by Jessica Lee Stovall and Dr. Micia Mosely | Race Ethnicity and Education, October 7, 2022 This article presents findings from an empirical study that sought to understand how Black teachers collectively built a Black affinity space in response to the antiblackness they faced in their school sites.

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MAKING SPACE: Affinity groups offer a platform for voices often relegated to the margins. - Learning for Justice

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MAKING SPACE: Affinity groups offer a platform for voices often relegated to the margins. - Learning for Justice

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"You really shouldn't be having tests on a major holiday. We can communicate this up to the teachers and the administration," math teacher and affinity group leader Jeannie Rumsey told the students. "We can find another time for you to make that up, but this is a major holiday for you and you should be able to celebrate it." After organizing and communicating with their administration, the group succeeded in adding the major Muslim holy days to the following year's school calendar. The dates were given the same treatment as the Christian and Jewish holidays: no tests.

This example of collective action is one of the purposes of affinity groups in schools: They allow students who share an identity-usually a marginalized identity-to gather, talk in a safe space about issues related to that identity, and transfer that discussion into action that makes for a more equitable experience at school.

Dylan Posos, a student at John F. Kennedy High School in San Antonio, Texas, attests to the power of affinity groups to create safer learning environments. Dylan joined Kennedy's LGBT club in November 2014 after being disturbed by anti-LGBT bullying happening at school. He had not yet come out as transgender and was nervous about being judged. With the LGBT club, though, he found he could just be himself.

"The club motivated me to email my teachers. I came out with all my teachers, and now all my teachers call me Dylan," he says. "I'm more comfortable in school instead of being uncomfortable, not paying attention. It's like a weight off my back. The club gave that to me. It makes learning easier, really. It just gives me more confidence."

Having confidence in their identities is not always a given for students. Schools, like other institutions, are spaces in which those outside the dominant culture can feel disregarded, whether the disregard is intentional or not. Trying to negotiate and learn in such spaces makes the process of going to school stressful. Students of color, for example, may be dealing with what education professor Howard Stevenson calls racial stress: anxiety or fear that stems from racial encounters with individuals who are unaware or uncaring about the experiences of people of color. This kind of stress can contribute to feelings of loneliness and being "unseen" at school.

Darnell Fine, a seventh-grade English teacher and middle school diversity coordinator, speaks to the predispositions of many schools to overlook the needs of students outside the dominant group. "I think [school] can be a place that relegates students, especially students of color, especially students of marginalized groups, to silence," he explained. "It strips them of their voice. The students aren't voiceless, but due to the parameters of schools and how schools can marginalize students, they are at times not a place ... where students can express themselves."

Students need to be able to be themselves at school-and that's where affinity groups come in. A group of students who share an identity are going to relate to each other in ways they can't with peers who can't or don't understand their experience. It's about safety and, in some cases, about fundamental issues of injustice.

"The reason why affinity groups exist in the first place isn't because students want to segregate themselves from the rest of the population," Fine points out, "but because the population is excluding them to begin with." Gathering in safe spaces around shared identity allows students to engage in conversations about how they can subvert the structures that push them to the margins. In turn, these conversations "push the school to be more social-activist-oriented and less assimilationist-oriented," says Fine.

First Things First

Before a school can become more social-activist-oriented through affinity groups, someone has to get the ball rolling. Mike Ackerman, a counselor and affinity groups coordinator at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, Massachusetts, suggests starting by assembling a task force to get the initiative off the ground; this group should absolutely include students. Early collaboration can also involve soliciting the experience of other schools that have gone through the process of launching affinity groups, Rumsey noted.

In the idea-generation stage, an important step is to assess the attitudes and needs of the school. Fine recommends an anonymous diversity or multicultural survey of students, parents and school staff. Learning about concerns within the school community provides a springboard. "Let's say students of color don't feel comfortable going to their teachers," Fine illustrates. "You need to create a safe space for those students to voice those concerns and to start to organize."

Getting backing from the school's administration is also key, says Rumsey. "If your administration isn't in support of [forming affinity groups], it's not going to be successful. And, for that matter, the group's impact on your students will be severely limited," she says.

"I needed to have my principal and my admin on board with this because the conversations that we were having [in the affinity group] were very hard conversations. They were conversations that threatened the power structure," Fine says. "I knew my principal and the dean of students had my back. I wasn't tip-toeing around the conversation. I was allowing kids to voice their concerns and then propose initiatives to effect change in the school."

Launching a Successful Affinity Group

Once the higher-ups are on board, the task force can begin determining (based on the needs assessment) what groups are most necessary and finding facilitators. Another survey can be useful here, this time to find out how the adults in the school identify and what groups they'd be interested in leading. Rumsey and her team were careful to look for facilitators whose identities fit with the groups in question. Otherwise, the authenticity of the group's work could be in jeopardy. Fine puts it this way: "I can be an all-out advocate for my female students. It still doesn't erase the male privilege that I'm bringing into that affinity group."

But sometimes students need a group for which there is no appropriate adult leader. In that case, ask the students what they want to do. At Rumsey's school, Muslim students showed strong interest in having an affinity group for a couple of years, but no adults in the school identified as Muslim. She asked the students if they wanted to look for someone from the wider community or if they wanted her to lead it; they were comfortable with her and chose her.

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Affinity groups offer a platform for voices often relegated to the margins.

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Safe Space or Segregation? Affinity Groups for Teachers, Students of Color - Education Week

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Safe Space or Segregation? Affinity Groups for Teachers, Students of Color - Education Week

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Affinity groups are meant to be safe spaces for educators or students who share an identity, such as a common race or heritage, to discuss mutual concerns and help each other navigate a K-12 education system where they are in the minority.

But these organizations have recently come under attack by a conservative think tank and a parent organization, which argue that the groups are effectively a form of segregation.

Here are some basics on what affinity groups are, why they exist, and why they're being challenged now:

What is an affinity group?

While America's student body is diversifying, teachers remain predominantly white. That means teachers of color often feel isolated in school buildings, and they need to feel welcome and supported, according to Saili Kulkarni, an associate professor of special education at San Jose State University.

That's where affinity groups come in.

"Oftentimes, a teacher of color might be the only one right at their school sites, and be experiencing some racial microaggressions or challenges and not have anyone to really kind of confide in," Kulkarni said. "So these spaces provide that validation or that support for the kind of challenges that they may encounter."

The same idea has guided the formation of affinity groups at the student level, such as Black male support groups or Latino student associations, or for students with particular sexual or gender identities.

Why affinity groups are being challenged

Since last year, amid the national backlash against equity and inclusion initiatives, affinity groups have become targets of complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights by a parent group called Parents Defending Education. The group has filed four complaints and a federal lawsuit against school districts for offering safe spaces for students or educators of color, alleging that the existence of these groups violates the Civil Rights act and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The group has so far filed complaints against the Jefferson County public schools in Colorado, New York City public schools, the Orange County school district in North Carolina, and Wellesley public schools in Massachusetts. Parents Defending Education also sued Wellesley schools for offering affinity groups for Black, Latino, and other students of color. The lawsuit was settled this February, with the district agreeing to clarify that the groups were open to any and all students.

The group has also filed federal complaints against districts for other equity-related initiatives, such as equity audits, extracurricular activities for students of color, and even school board statements condemning systemic racism.

"Treating children differently on the basis of skin color-regardless of intent-is immoral," Parents Defending Education founderNicole Neily says in a statement. "When it is done in public schools with taxpayer dollars, it is also unconstitutional."

Similarly, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a right-learning think tank, has sent letters challenging affinity groups to two school districts in that state.

Affinity groups have been around for decades

Black teachers formed the first affinity groups in Georgia in 1878, when they asked for salaries equal to their white colleagues, according to a report comissioned by the Black Teacher Project, a group dedicated to train and sustain Black K-12 teachers.

Decades later, after school desegregation, many Black teachers lost their jobs and, as a result, their voice to advocate for Black students, according to a paper by Vanessa Sidle Walker, a professor of African American educational studies at Emory University.

Those losses still have an impact today. Because America's student population is becoming more diverse, as educators of color remain underrepresented, their ideas are often undervalued and they have to take on additional burdens, according to the Black Teacher Project report.

"It's this idea that the integration of folks was completed on some sort of equal footing," Kulkarni said. "We haven't come to terms with the anti-racist work in K-12 spaces, and therefore there continue to be these issues. Whether everybody recognizes them or not, they exist." The ongoing frustration perpetuates the need for teachers and students of color to band together for support and a safe harbor.

Keeping Black teachers in the classroom

When Emily Dech, a teacher in Minnesota, started an affinity group in her district, she was one of only five educators of color in the district.

"We really felt this need for a space with just so many different things going on, so many instances of being in a very white-centric work environment," she said. "We needed a space just for us to be able to come together and just breathe and process and be there for each other."

Dech centered her affinity group around the idea of "racial battle fatigue," which the University of Minnesota describes as the "cumulative psychological, social, physiological, and emotional impacts of racial micro and macro aggressions and racist abuse on racially marginalized groups."

It was exhausting to work in a predominantly white environment, Dech said, so the group shared research and resources with each other on how best to navigate their stress while supporting students of color.

Then three of the five teachers of color, including Dech, were cut from the district last year because of last in, first out policies and certain teaching positions being removed.

The charter school where Dech works now has a much more inclusive environment, but she still formed a new affinity group, this time with nine members.

"Now we have a widespread teacher shortage, but within teachers of color, 50 percent of us leave within their first five years," Dech said. "And so we need to have something that helps us stay."

Affinity groups can also serve teachers cross-sectional needs

Kulkarni developed a group for special educators of color through San Jose State, which includes about 10 special education teachers from California.

Special education teachers of color often need a space to share concerns that lie at the intersection of teaching students with disabilities and being an educator of color, she said.

"They're dealing with not only the racial microaggressions, [such as] some of the the racist comments or the racist undertones to some of their work, but they're also dealing with folks who don't recognize disability as an identity," she said. "And therefore are constantly trying to advocate for students to receive some equal supports, to be integrated into classrooms, to have opportunities to participate with peers of the same age."

Black special education teachers in Kulkarni's group said they constantly feel like their decisions are being questioned by administrators or other teachers, or are not taken seriously when they ask for specific resources to be able to educate their students. The group allows them to feel supported by sharing their mutual frustrations and helping each other navigate similar work problems, Kulkarni said.

They also felt tensions while talking to other special education teachers if they were white and felt like they had to keep advocating for themselves and their students simultaneously, she said.

Dech and Kulkarni both disagreed with conservative groups' claim that affinity groups for educators or students of color constitute segregation

"I think it really comes from that place of discomfort or avoidance," Kulkarni said. "If folks want to get together around a particular culture, racial background or language, they should be able to do those things because it's a shared experience that they want to put together."

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Safe Space or Segregation? Affinity Groups for Teachers, Students of Color

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See what affinity groups are and why they're coming under fire.

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LAUSD Mentor Helps Male Teachers of Color in CSUN Program

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Early in his career, like many new teachers, Eberardo Rodriguez wondered whether he would stay in the profession. He could handle the challenges of teaching - the long hours, onerous paperwork and low pay. He also loved serving as a role model for students and pushing them to challenge themselves

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TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION TOOLKIT LOS ANGELES UNIFIED 2023-2024 Administrator Handbook

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TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION TOOLKIT LOS ANGELES UNIFIED 2023-2024 Administrator Handbook

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Diversifying the Teacher Workforce - Educator Excellence - California Department of Education

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Diversifying the Teacher Workforce - Educator Excellence - California Department of Education

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Currently in California, 23 percent of the student population is White, not Hispanic, while 63 percent of the teacher population is White. The largest percentage of students of color is Latino at 54 percent, while just 20 percent of teachers share that demographic. In addition, 73 percent of the teacher workforce in California is female (CalEdFacts, 2016-17 and 2017-18).

In a pluralistic and increasingly global society, a diverse educator workforce benefits all students and advances educational equity. "Regular exposure to and interactions with individuals from a variety of races and ethnic groups, especially during childhood, combat stereotypes, strengthen students' abilities to become comfortable with peers from different backgrounds, reduce unconscious implicit biases inside and outside the classroom, and lead to innovative and greater social cohesion" (Warner & Duncan, 2019).

Diversity in the teaching workforce has specific benefits to students of color:

Teachers of color boost the academic performance of students of color, including improved reading and math test scores, improved graduation rates, and increases in aspirations to attend college.

Students of color and White students report having positive perceptions of their teachers of color, including feeling cared for and academically challenged.

Greater diversity of teachers may mitigate feelings of isolation, frustration, and fatigue that can contribute to individual teachers of color leaving the profession when they feel they are alone (Carver-Thomas, 2018).

New Resources for Workforce Diversification:

Report: How to Increase the Diversity of California's Educator Workforce (PDF)

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction convened the California Department of Education's (CDE) Educator Diversity Advisory Group. It's purpose and charge was to provide recommendations on how the CDE can recruit, support, and retain teachers of color across California. The five recommendations made by the CDE Educator Diversity Advisory Group are detailed in the report.

This report is not exhaustive of all the work on diversifying the teacher workforce. The CDE will continue to work with organizations and other educational entities, including community colleges and teacher prep programs, both public and private, to continue this important effort.

Diversity Web Resources

The web pages linked below include strategies that are valuable for recruiting and retaining all teachers, but research has shown they are especially valuable for recruiting and retaining teachers of color. When applicable, links to research articles on the topics or to specific programs in California have been included.
Recruiting Teachers of Color Retaining Teachers of Color
Equity Thought Leader Series

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond's new Equity Thought Leader Series will highlight issues in California's educational system pertaining to diversifying the teacher workforce and applying Asset-based Pedagogies to meet the needs of the diverse California student population.
Recorded Webinars
Diversifying the Teacher Workforce Series 2022

The CDE Diversifying the Teacher Workforce Series 2022 consists of three recorded webinars. The first webinar highlights key findings and recommendations from the CDE's Educator Diversity Advisory Group. The second webinar describes how to braid federal and state funds to support diversification efforts. The final webinar presents diversification efforts throughout the state from members of the CDE's Diversifying the Teacher Workforce Community of Practice.
How to Increase California's Educator Workforce (Video; 49:55) Braiding Federal and State Funds (Video; 56:16) Statewide Diversification Efforts (Video; 55:18)
Questions: Teacher and Leader Policy Office | TLPO@cde.ca.gov | 916-445-7331

Last Reviewed: Tuesday, September 6, 2022

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Diversifying the Teacher Workforce - Educator Excellence (CA Dept of Education)

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The diversity of California’s current teacher population does not reflect its current student population. Diversifying California’s teacher population will have positive impacts on all students.

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COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) -- High school teachers in Compton are finding new ways to fight back against absenteeism, dropouts and classroom struggles, particularly among students of color.

It's a key problem facing many plaguing urban schools: How to keep students of color in class and how to raise their graduation rates.

At Dominguez High School in Compton, administrators are taking a back-door approach, getting male teachers of color to help keep students of color in class and engaged.

"The research shows clearly that when male teachers of color are in front of students of color the students tend to achieve at higher levels," said Blaine Watson, principal of Dominguez High School.

The numbers are proof: For black male students, having at least one black teacher in grades 3 through 5 cuts the black male dropout rate by 40%.

The challenge, according to UC Berkeley professor Travis Bristol, is to recruit, train and retain male teachers of color in the classroom.

Bristol says male teachers of color are rare in California - making up less than 10% of the workforce - and national turnover rates for black and Hispanic male teachers are 50% higher than for women of color.

"The primary driver for teacher turnover is poor administrative leadership," Bristol said. "Teachers leave their principals, they do not leave their students."

Bristol and John Reveles from Cal State Northridge developed a new mentoring program called the Compton Male Teachers of Color Network.

The program brings teachers of color together, to compare notes on classroom tools that work. It includes shadowing each other during class instruction and weekend sessions where school administrators seek feedback from their teachers of color on campus-wide challenges.

"We had a huge chronic absenteeism rate, right? Dismal," Watson said.

Dominguez High School in Compton Unified is the first school in the country to incorporate Bristol's program. Eighty-seven percent of the campus is Latino, 11 percent black.

"If we're going to lower turnover for teachers of color we have to attend to improving the working conditions in their schools," Bristol said.

"When you look at the academic growth, you look at absenteeism, you look at truancy, all of these numbers have improved and we believe that this will not just benefit Dominguez, this can benefit our entire school system," said Micah Ali, with the Compton Unified School District.

Long-time Dominguez High School teacher Marco Godinez says the three-year program is working - giving young teachers what they need to be motivated to stay in the classroom and serve as role models for the young eyes looking up at them.

"It makes it for the kids to see wow, males of color can have professional jobs, they can see themselves in that teacher," Godinez said.

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Compton school looking at new ways to help African-American students

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COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) -- High school teachers in Compton are finding new ways to fight back against absenteeism, dropouts and classroom struggles, particularly among students of color. It's a key problem facing many plaguing urban schools: How to keep students of color in class and how to raise their graduation rates.

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Culturally Efficacious Induction Mentors (CEIM)

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Culturally Efficacious Induction Mentors (CEIM)

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If You Listen, We Will Stay: Why Teachers of Color Leave and How to Disrupt Teacher Turnover

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If You Listen, We Will Stay: Why Teachers of Color Leave and How to Disrupt Teacher Turnover

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Studies consistently show that teachers of color matter for all students, and especially for students of color. Yet, the proportion of teachers of color in the workforce continues to lag far behind the share of students of color in our schools. Recruiting teachers of color only gets them into the building. We must pay equal, if not more, attention to their retention to make long-lasting change in the diversity of the workforce.

This is why Teach Plus and The Education Trust set out to learn why teachers of color are leaving schools, what teachers of color believe would help solve the turnover problem, and what strategies exist in schools and school systems that are intentionally working to bring about change.
"If You Listen, We Will Stay: Why Teachers of Color Leave and How to Disrupt Teacher Turnover," examines the challenges teachers of color face as they navigate the profession and zeroes in on the solutions adopted by schools working to retain faculty of color. Learn what you can do as a teacher leader Teach Plus teacher leaders on their experiences as teachers of color
Retaining Teachers of Color in the Classroom Starts with Listening
By Idalmi Acosta, Teach Plus Indianapolis Fellowship alumna

Celebrate and Support the Strengths Teachers of Color Bring to the Classroom
By Daniel Helena, Teach Plus California alum

A Simple 'I See You' Could Help Teachers of Color Stay
By Keisha Rembert, Teach Plus Illinois alumna

I had a teacher who looked like me
By Shareefah Mason, Teach Plus Texas DFW alumna
"If You Listen, We Will Stay" in the media
Push to increase the number of teachers of color in California classrooms gains momentum (EdSource)

How Do We Make Teaching More Diverse? Experts Say: Start By Listening (Indiana Public Radio)
Read our reports on recruiting and retaining teachers of color in California and Illinois

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If You Listen, We Will Stay: Why Teachers of Color Leave and How to Disrupt Teacher Turnover - Teach Plus - Leadership Opportunity

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Studies consistently show that teachers of color matter for all students, and especially for students of color. Yet, the proportion of teachers of color in the workforce continues to lag far behind the share of students of color in our schools. Recruiting teachers of color only gets them into the building.

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The Role School Administrators Play in Creating Healthy Ecosystems for Black Male Preservice Teachers

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The Role School Administrators Play in Creating Healthy Ecosystems for Black Male Preservice Teachers

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The Impact Cycle Workbook - Jim Knight.pdf

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How to Find (and Keep) a Diverse Team of Teachers - EdWeek.pdf

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Early Recruitment Strategies for Cultivating Diverse Educators

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Early Recruitment Strategies for Cultivating Diverse Educators

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Dear Jacob,

Thank you for registering to attend the webinar " Early Recruitment Strategies for Cultivating Diverse Educators" on May 22nd. We enjoyed a robust conversation about best practices around recruiting students of color and indigenous students into teaching careers with powerful voices from Teach Plus, Educators Rising, and the Center for Black Educator Development.

You can access the recording here. Additionally, several helpful resources and materials were referenced during the webinar, and we have provided links to those materials below:

Finally, the 1MTOC Campaign invites you to complete the feedback survey to share your thoughts and reflections on the webinar. Your perspective is essential to ensure that our future offerings continue to be relevant and impactful.
Thank you for joining us and REGISTER for our next webinar, set for June 12, today!

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Early Recruitment Strategies Recap & Join Our Next Webinar!

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Dear Jacob, Thank you for registering to attend the webinar " Early Recruitment Strategies for Cultivating Diverse Educators" on May 22nd. We enjoyed a robust conversation about best practices around recruiting students of color and indigenous students into teaching careers with powerful voices from Teach Plus, Educators Rising, and the Center for Black Educator Development.

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Ed Source: Disrespect, low pay, lack of support keep Black teachers out of the profession

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Ed Source: Disrespect, low pay, lack of support keep Black teachers out of the profession

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Disrespect, low pay, lack of support keep Black teachers out of the profession

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The cost of earning a credential and the disrespect they face while teaching are keeping Black teachers out of the classroom.

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Ed Source | California, districts try to recruit and retain Black teachers; advocates say more should be done

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Ed Source | California, districts try to recruit and retain Black teachers; advocates say more should be done

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Recruiting and retaining Black teachers has taken on new urgency in recent years as California lawmakers try to ease the state's teacher shortage. The state and individual school districts have launched initiatives to recruit teachers of color, but educators and advocates say more needs to be done.

Hiring a diverse group of teachers helps all students, but the impact is particularly significant for students of color, who then score higher on tests and are more likely to graduate from college, according to the Learning Policy Institute. A recently released report also found that Black boys are less likely to be identified for special education when they have a Black teacher.

In the last five years, state lawmakers have made earning a credential easier and more affordable, and have offered incentives for school staff to become teachers - all moves meant to ease the teacher shortage and help to diversify the educator workforce.

Despite efforts by the state and school districts, the number of Black teachers doesn't seem to be increasing. Black teachers say that to keep them in the classroom, teacher preparation must be more affordable, pay and benefits increased, and more done to ensure they are treated with respect, supported and given opportunities to lead.

"Black educators specifically said that they felt like they were being pushed out of the state of California," said Jalisa Evans, chief executive director of the Black Educator Advocates Network of a recent survey of Black teachers. "When we look at the future of Black educators for the state, it can go either way, because what Black educators are feeling right now is that they're not welcome."

Task force offers recommendations

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond called diversifying the teacher workforce a priority and established the California Department of Education Educator Diversity Advisory Group in 2021.

The advisory group has made several recommendations, including beginning a public relations campaign and offering sustained funding to recruit and retain teachers of color, and providing guidance and accountability to school districts on the matter. The group also wants universities, community groups and school districts to enter into partnerships to build pathways for teachers of color.

Since then, California has created a set of public service announcements and a video to help recruit teachers and has invested $10 million to help people of color to become school administrators, said Travis Bristol, chairman of the advisory group and an associate professor of education at UC Berkeley. Staff from county offices of education also have been meeting to share ideas on how they can support districts' efforts to recruit and retain teachers of color, he said.

The state also has invested more than $350 million over the past six years to fund teacher residency programs, and recently passed legislation to ensure residents are paid a minimum salary. Residents work alongside an experienced teacher-mentor for a year of clinical training while completing coursework in a university preparation program - a time commitment that often precludes them from taking a job.

Legislators have also proposed a bill that would require that student teachers be paid. Completing the 600 hours of unpaid student teaching required by the state, while paying for tuition, books, supplies and living expenses, is a challenge for many Black teacher candidates.

Black teacher candidates typically take on much more student debt than their white counterparts, in part, because of the large racial wealth gap in the United States. A 2019 study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that the median white family had $184,000 in family wealth (property and cash), while the median Latino family had $38,000 and the median Black family had $23,000.

Lack of data makes it difficult to know what is working

It's difficult to know if state efforts are working. California hasn't released any data on teacher demographics since the 2018-19 school year, although the data is submitted annually by school districts. The California Department of Education (CDE) did not provide updated data or interviews requested by EdSource for this story.

The most recent data from CDE shows the number of Black teachers in California declined from 4.2% in 2009 to 3.9% during the 2018-19 school year. The National Center for Education Statistics data from the 2020-21 show that Black teachers made up 3.8% of the state educator workforce.

Having current data is a critical first step to understanding the problem and addressing it, said Mayra Lara, director of Southern California partnerships and engagement at The Education Trust-West, an education research and advocacy organization.

"Let's be clear: The California Department of Education needs to annually publish educator demographic and experience data," Lara said. "It has failed to do so for the past four years. ... Without this data, families, communities and decision-makers really are in the dark when it comes to the diversity of the educator workforce."

LA Unified losing Black teachers despite efforts

While most state programs focus on recruiting and retaining all teachers of color, some California school districts have initiatives focused solely on recruiting Black teachers.

The state's largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, passed the Black Student Excellence through Educator Diversity, Preparation and Retention resolution two years ago. It required district staff to develop a strategic plan to ensure schools have Black teachers, administrators and mental health workers, and to advocate for programs that offer pathways for Black people to become teachers.

When the resolution was passed, in February 2022, Los Angeles Unified had 1,889 Black teachers - 9% of its teacher workforce. The following school year, that number declined to 1,823 or 7.9% of district teachers. The number of Black teachers in the district has gone down each year since 2016. The district did not provide data for the current school year.

Robert Whitman, director of the Educational Transformation Office at LA Unified, attributed the decrease, in part, to the difficulty attracting teachers to the district, primarily because of the area's high cost of living.

" Those who are coming out of colleges now, in some cases, we find that they can make more money doing other things," Whitman said. "And so, they may not necessarily see education as the most viable option."

The underrepresentation of people of color prompted the district to create its own in-house credentialing program, approved by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Whitman said. The program allows classified staff, such as substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, administrative assistants and bus drivers, to become credentialed teachers while earning a salary and benefits at their original jobs.

Grow-your-own programs such as this, and the state's Classified School Employee Credentialing program, and a soon-to-be launched apprenticeship program, are meant to diversify the educator workforce because school staff recruited from the community more closely match the demographics of the student body than traditionally trained and recruited teachers, according to research.

Los Angeles Unified has other initiatives to increase the number of Black educators in the district, Whitman said, including working with universities and colleges to bring Black teachers, counselors and psychiatric social workers to their campuses. The district also has programs that help school workers earn a credential for free, and channels employees completing a bachelor's degree toward the district's teacher preparation program where they can begin teaching while earning their credential.

All new teachers at Los Angeles Unified are supported by mentors and affinity groups, which have been well received by Black teachers, who credit them with inspiring and helping them to see themselves as leaders in the district, Whitman said.

Oakland has more Black teachers than students

Recruiting and retaining Black teachers is an important part of the Oakland Unified three-year strategic plan, said Sarah Glasband, director of recruitment and retention for the district. To achieve its goals, the district has launched several partnerships that make an apprenticeship program, and a residency program that includes a housing subsidy, possible. A partnership with the Black Teacher Project, a nonprofit advocacy organization, offers affinity groups, workshops and seminars to support the district's Black teachers.

The district also has a Classified School Employee Program funded by the state and a new high school program to train future teachers. District pathway programs have an average attrition rate of less than 10%, Glasband said.

This year, 21.3% of the district's K-12 teachers are Black, compared with 20.3% of their student population, according to district data. Oakland Unified had a retention rate of about 85% for Black teachers between 2019 and 2023.

Better pay, a path to leadership will help teachers stay

Black teachers interviewed by EdSource and researchers say that to keep them in the classroom, more needs to be done to make teacher preparation affordable, improve pay and benefits, and ensure they are treated with respect, supported and given opportunities to lead.

The Black Educator Advocates Network came up with five recommendations after surveying 128 former and current Black teachers in California about what it would take to keep them in the classroom:

Hire more Black educators and staff

Build an anti-racist, culturally responsive and inclusive school environment

Create safe spaces for Black educators and students to come together

Provide and require culturally responsive training for all staff

Recognize, provide leadership opportunities and include Black educators in decision making

Teachers interviewed by EdSource said paying teachers more also would make it easier for them to stay.

"I don't want to say that it's the pay that's going to get more Black teachers," Brooke Sims, a Stockton teacher, told EdSource. "But you get better pay, you get better health care."

The average teacher salary in the state is $88,508, with the average starting pay at $51,600, according to the 2023 National Education Association report, " State of Educator Pay in America." California's minimum living wage was $54,070 last year, according to the report.

State efforts, such as an initiative that pays teachers $5,000 annually for five years after they earn National Board Certification, will help with pay parity across school districts, Bristol said. Teachers prove through assessments and a portfolio that they meet the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. To be eligible for the grant, teachers must work at least half of their time in a high-needs school. Teachers who qualify are also given $2,500 to cover the cost of certification.

This incentive will help teachers continue their education and improve their practice, said Los Angeles teacher Petrina Miller. "It's awesome," she said.

Teacher candidates must be actively recruited

Many Black college students have not considered a teaching career because they have never had a Black teacher, said Preston Jackson, who teaches physical education at California Middle School in Sacramento. Those who consider a teaching career are often deterred by the cost of teacher preparation, taking required tests and unpaid student teaching.

"In order to increase the number of Black teachers in schools, it has to become deliberate," Jackson said. "You have to actively recruit and actively seek them out to bring them into the profession."

Since starting in 2005, Jackson has been one of only a handful of Black teachers at his school.

"And for almost every single one of my kids, I'm the first Black teacher they've ever had," said Jackson. "... And for some of them, I'm the first one they've ever seen."

Mentors are needed to help retain new teachers

Mentor teachers are the key ingredient to helping new Black educators transition successfully into teaching, according to teachers interviewed by EdSource. Alicia Simba says she could have taken a job for $25,000 more annually in a Bay Area district with few Black teachers or students, but opted to take a lower salary to work in Oakland Unified.

But like many young teachers, Simba knew she wanted mentors to help her navigate her first years in the classroom. She works alongside Black teachers in Oakland Unified who have more than 20 years of teaching experience. One of her mentor teachers shared her experience of teaching on the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. Other teachers told her about teaching in the 1980s during the crack cocaine epidemic.

"It really helps dispel some of the sort of narratives that I hear, which is that being a teacher is completely unsustainable," Simba said. "Like, there's no way that anyone could ever be a teacher long term, which are things that, you know, I've heard my friends say, and I've thought it myself."

The most obvious way to retain Black teachers would be to make sure they are treated the same as non-Black teachers, said Brenda Walker, a Black teacher and president of the Associated Chino Teachers.

"If you are a district administrator, site administrator, site or colleague, parent or student, my bachelor's degree, master's degree, and my special education credential are just as valuable and carry as much weight, and are as respected as any other educator," she said.

"However, it's just as critical for all those groups to acknowledge and respect the unique cultural experience I bring to the table and acknowledge and respect that I'm a proud product of my ancestral history."

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California, districts try to recruit and retain Black teachers; advocates say more should be done

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In the last five years, state lawmakers have made earning a credential easier and more affordable, and have offered incentives for school staff to become teachers.

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Copy of LAMTCN: MToC Connectedness Planning