Children spend the majority of their schooldays with their teachers, so there is no denying that teachers have a great impact on their lives.
Imagine going to school and rarely being taught by someone who looks like you, someone you can relate to. This happens every day in U.S. schools, where only 2 percent of teachers are Black men. Studies have shown that Black male teachers have a positive impact on boys of color and the entire student body.
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“Kids do better when they’re taught by teachers who look like them. That’s just the way it is,” said California State University Northridge (CSUN) education professor David Kretschmer in the Philadelphia Tribune. Kretschmer is one of two directors heading up the Future Minority Male Teachers Across California Project, whose goal is to recruit, prepare and retain male teachers of color at the elementary level throughout California’s university system.
He added: “That’s why we need more men of color in American classrooms, period.”
Despite this need for Black male teachers, there hasn’t been much change, according to a new study.
“Since 2014, ethnic and racial minorities make up more than half of the student population in U.S. public schools, yet about 80 percent of teachers are white and 77 percent of them are female. People of color make up about 20 percent of teachers; a mere 2 percent are Black men,” the Undefeated reported.
Not having Black men as teachers can affect student performance. In fact, according to several research Black students consistently fall behind their white counterparts academically but actually perform better when taught by teachers of the same race.
And it is on every educational level that Black male teachers have a major impact. A Johns Hopkins University economist named Nicholas Papageorge conducted a groundbreaking study in 2017 and found that “having just one Black teacher in elementary school significantly increased a low-income Black student’s likelihood of graduating from high school and considering college; for a very low-income Black boy, the risk of dropping out was reduced by 39 percent,” the Undefeated reported.
Charles King knows all too well why Black males teachers are needed. Black males teachers can help change stereotypes as well. King currently teaches seventh-grade English.
“I realized that I wanted my students to have access to the same resources that I had,” recalled King, 25, to the Undefeated. “I feel like I can connect with my students on a higher level because of our shared identity. I think they know — they can feel it — that I want the best for them. Being in the classroom is also a great opportunity for them to see a different version of a black man, the human side of a Black man, and not the negative stereotypes that they usually see when they turn on the TV.”
So the need is obvious on many levels, yet where there are Black male teachers available they are often faced with many obstacles. “Many report feeling isolated, passed over for decision-making positions and forced into disciplinary roles, particularly for students of color. Research has also found that black teachers are disproportionately clustered in under-resourced schools with fewer opportunities for mentorship and professional development, which often contributes to burnout and high attrition levels,” the Undefeated reported.
There have been some major efforts to increase the number of Black men in education. A Philadelphia-based program called The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice and launched by Vincent Cobb, Rashiid Coleman and Sterling Grimes in 2014 has the goal of adding 1,000 Black male educators, or “BMEs,” to city public schools by 2025. So far they are at 648.
There are other similar initiatives across the country: Southern University of New Orleans’ Honoré Center for Undergraduate Student Achievement offers full scholarships in exchange for a two-year teaching commitment; New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration launched NYC Men Teach in 2015; and there’s the long-standing initiative Call Me MISTER at South Carolina’s Clemson University founded nearly 20 years ago. Call Me MISTER grooms Black male high school students and teaching assistants for teaching careers.
And in 2017 Washington, D.C.-based Branch Alliance for Educator Diversity program partnered with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to support Black education majors.
“HBCUs must play a significant role in preparing Black teachers who understand our community,” said Denise Pearson, project director for a State Higher Education Executive Officers Association collaboration with four HBCUs, focused on increasing minority male representation in the classroom. “We definitely need to be investing in our schools of education.”
