Deurbanization and the Struggle to Sustain a Black Teaching Corps: Evidence From Michigan

2021 ◽  
pp. 0013189X2110513
Author(s):  
Steven Drake ◽  
Joshua Cowen

From 2005 to 2015, the number of Black teachers in Michigan dropped by 48%, substantially exceeding declines in the corresponding K–12 Black student population. These teacher losses are an acute phenomenon within a broader national context of deurbanization of K–12 student populations away from those districts with the largest and most established faculties of color. Districts receiving large numbers of incoming Black students hired few Black teachers over the period, leading to marked declines in Black student exposure to Black educators, and Black employment gains since 2016 have generally been in areas where Black teachers were already employed. We discuss the historical conditions under which Michigan’s Black faculties were established and multiple forward-looking challenges to building and sustaining Black faculties in geographically diffuse populations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Council ◽  
Shaeroya Earls ◽  
Shakale George ◽  
Rebecca Graham

In Southwest Atlanta, urban education reform and gentrification have intersected to create the perfect collision of housing and educational displacement of Black students, Black families, and Black teachers. While Black communities are dealing with the impacts of gentrification, Black schools are simultaneously witnessing shifts that uproot students and their teachers. As a teacher participatory action research (PAR) collective, we share our personal experiences of housing displacement and how it has impacted our students, our communities, and our ability to maintain our positions as community-centered teachers. In this article, we acclimate readers to Atlanta, Georgia, and the Southwest Atlanta region in which we serve. We also illustrate how we have confronted the displacement of our students and ourselves. Finally, we highlight the significance of community-centered teachers operating within a Critical Studyin’ for Human Freedom praxis in the struggle against systemic inequities that persistently plague our students and communities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (12) ◽  
pp. 2777-2803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Baker

Background/Context Although the dominant narrative of the civil rights movement marginalizes the role of black educators, revisionist scholars have shown that a significant number of black teachers encouraged student protest and activism. There has, however, been little analysis of the work of black teachers inside segregated schools in the South. Purpose/Objective This study examines the courses that Southern African American teachers taught, the pedagogies they practiced, and the extracurricular programs they organized. Using Charleston's Burke Industrial School as a lens to illuminate pedagogies of protest that were practiced by activist educators in the South, this study explores how leading black educators created spaces within segregated schools where they bred dissatisfaction with white supremacy. Research Design This historical analysis draws upon archival sources, school board minutes, school newspapers and yearbooks, oral testimony, and autobiographies. Conclusions/Recommendations In Charleston, as elsewhere in the South, activist African American teachers made crucial contributions to the civil rights movement. Fusing an activist version of the African American uplift philosophy with John Dewey's democratic conception of progressive education, exemplary teachers created academic and extracurricular programs that encouraged student protest. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing through the 1960s, students acted on lessons taught in classes and extracurricular clubs, organizing and leading strikes, boycotts, and demonstrations. The pedagogies that leading African American educators practiced, the aspirations they nurtured, and the student activism they encouraged helped make the civil rights movement possible.


Author(s):  
Patrice W. Glenn Jones ◽  
Rose B. Glenn ◽  
Lillian C. Haywood ◽  
Kevin A. Rolle

While the discourse on achievement among Black American students often includes the perspectives of researchers, teachers, and college/university faculty, retired educator views are often disregarded. Based on Du Bois's exertion about the Talented Tenth, who he recognized as “educational experts” and “seers” that serve as “leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people,” Black retired teachers and educational leaders are questioned about how to change Black student achievement trends, and included in this chapter are the recommendations offered by Black retired teachers and educational leaders—recommendations designed to bring about change in practice. Beyond adding to the discourse on Black student achievement, the chapter gives voice to retired Black educators whose years of professional experiences qualify them as “educational experts.”


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-187
Author(s):  
Cassandra M. D. Hart

Using rich administrative data from North Carolina and school-course fixed effects models, this study explores whether the availability of same-race instructors in advanced-track sections of courses affects Black high school students’ enrollment in, and performance in, advanced-track courses. The availability of at least one Black instructor at the advanced level is associated with a 2 percentage point increase in the uptake of advanced courses for Black students. However, conditional on enrollment in the advanced track, Black students are no more likely to pass advanced-track courses when taught by Black teachers. Positive effects on enrollment are driven by enrollment shifts for higher achieving students. Additional analyses showing benefits to non-Black students suggest that the main channels are not race-specific role model effects.


Author(s):  
Gregory C. Petty

This was an investigation of the work ethic of K-12 educators from Generation X and Baby Boomer generations. Teachers of the baby boom generation were born between 1946 and 1964, and many are beginning to retire. There is an impending teacher shortage due to the large numbers of this group retiring or leaving the profession. School administrators and public school human resource specialists are beginning to focus on strategies to replace this experienced workforce. Administrators need to know if this group has different work ethic than later groups of teachers. In this study, Generation X teachers scored higher on the subscales of Easy Going, Dependable, and Committed. While Baby Boomers and Generation X teacher about the same on Dependable, Baby Boomers are more “engaged”. Though these differences in the subscales were not significant, The overall MANOVA for the comparison of work ethic as measured by the Occupational Work Ethic Inventory was significant at the p<.05 level. Many older teachers complain about the newer younger generation of teachers and their so-called “lack of a work ethic”. Unfortunately, there were not enough data to study teachers from the latest, millennial generation however, this study points to data that indicate there is more to this difference in perception that originally thought that could affect hiring and training of new generations of teachers.


Author(s):  
Jodene Morrell

The majority of American educators are White, middle class, and female. Most textbooks and articles for pre-service teachers assume their readers reflect these characteristics. However, as the K-12 student population becomes increasingly diverse, so do the pre-service teacher candidates at our Southern California public university. This article describes a prerequisite education course on diversity, showing how its original assumption that students needed to be convinced of the importance of diversity changed to a focus on improving the academic achievement and opportunities for linguistically and culturally diverse K-12 students.


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