News, Study: Having Just One Black Teacher Notably Helps Black Kids Graduate (hire, demand)
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I agree with you. Kids need role models with whom they can identify.
The trouble I had was how few Black applicants we got. I never tallied it up, but I would say that when we would get application packets from the system's personnel office, that far less than 10% were minority applicants. And yet, at least at that time (and probably still) FCPS worked at finding minority applicants.
But let me ask you a question. You seem familiar with the D.C. area. When I was in Prince George's County, Maryland back in the late '70s and early '80s, we had plenty of Black teachers. Is one possibility that the average Black teacher feels more comfortable in a school system with a larger Black constituency?
And, BTW, the even bigger challenge was finding Latino applicants! I don't remember a single Latino teacher applicant in 20 years of administration (a very few for aide positions). A few Asian applicants.
It is actually simple, like any other teacher, black teachers prefer to work in the school system nearest their home. And, like any other person, they prefer to live where they grew up or near family and friends.
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It is actually simple, like any other teacher, black teachers prefer to work in the school system nearest their home. And, like any other person, they prefer to live where they grew up or near family and friends.
Maybe it is that simple. But on the other hand I had a number of teachers in my school who lived 25-75 miles away from the school.
It is actually simple, like any other teacher, black teachers prefer to work in the school system nearest their home. And, like any other person, they prefer to live where they grew up or near family and friends.
I actually make it a point to not live and work in the same district. I don't want to run into students when I'm out and about.
In a neighborhood where young black boys were particularly unlikely to graduate, they offered a program for boys who were deemed at risk to be offered first choice at three particular teachers who were black men. Starting in kindergarten these teachers had half of their classes be kids more at risk, and then as those kids moved up a grade, the teacher moved with them. Right through elementary.
It was a very successful program for the students who had higher graduation rates than heir peers but in many ways more stressful for the teachers who had to spend much more time on learning new curricula each year.
My first day in my current district, my principal brought the 4th grade badass to my class because his current teacher said she didn't feel safe for himself or him to be in her class anymore.
Your post brought me back to a discussion that black males teachers are usually seen as only a disciplinary first, educator/curriculum expert second.
Honestly, not a bad program, if you have a consistent parapro to move up with you as well.
I actually make it a point to not live and work in the same district. I don't want to run into students when I'm out and about.
I spent most of my career living outside the school boundaries of where I worked, but still very close.
There were 2 incidents that still make me laugh to this day.
The first was when I was a teacher in Maryland, and I invited the principal and his wife and another teaching couple over to dinner. I lived in a somewhat upscale apartment complex in the neighborhood where I taught. When the principal and his wife walked up the sidewalk toward my building, I heard a kid in another apartment yell out: "Fitzgerald (a made up name for the story), you come in this neighborhood again and we'll shoot you!" He actually thought it was pretty funny.
The second incident was when I was a principal, and sometimes when I would be out shopping, a parent whom I didn't know or even recognize would see me and then note when they came into the school for something that I wasn't very friendly when they saw me at the mall. After all, 900 kids, 1800 parents...I can't know them all. So one day in the grocery store I saw a parent-aged woman looking at me and I thought...okay, another mother I don't know. So I walked over and said, "Well hello there. It's nice to see you." The woman looked at me and replied, "I don't know who you are mister, but if you don't leave me along I'm going to report you!"
So yes, there are reasons not to live within the boundaries of your school!
I agree with you. Kids need role models with whom they can identify.
The trouble I had was how few Black applicants we got. I never tallied it up, but I would say that when we would get application packets from the system's personnel office, that far less than 10% were minority applicants. And yet, at least at that time (and probably still) FCPS worked at finding minority applicants.
But let me ask you a question. You seem familiar with the D.C. area. When I was in Prince George's County, Maryland back in the late '70s and early '80s, we had plenty of Black teachers. Is one possibility that the average Black teacher feels more comfortable in a school system with a larger Black constituency?
And, BTW, the even bigger challenge was finding Latino applicants! I don't remember a single Latino teacher applicant in 20 years of administration (a very few for aide positions). A few Asian applicants.
Interesting. I am sure it varies by area of the country. I have lost 2 jobs now because someone of the race they were looking for applied. I get it, I really do, but it has been frustrating. The most frustrating was losing out to someone of the race and gender they wanted, and then listening to them complain about him not doing a good job.....um, I would have!
I am currently reading Multiplication is for White People by Lisa Delpit. It talks about the fact that if you are outside the culture of the students you are teaching, it is much harder to get past the mainstream culture and to see these children as smart and able to learn. It is unfortunate that there is a perception that tells us that because these children come to school without the things that middle class children have learned, they are defective. It's actually not true. They have simply learned other things rather than things that are important in school. They are often great problem solvers, but as teachers we don't always recognize it because we are focused on the things they don't know.
Quote:
The researchers initially studied about 100,000 black students who entered third grade in North Carolina Public Schools between 2001 and 2005. About 13 percent of the students ended up dropping out of high school, while about half graduated, but with no plans to pursue college.
However, low-income black students who were as good as randomly assigned to least one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grade, were not only less likely to drop out of school, but 18 percent more likely to express interest in college when they graduated. And persistently low-income black boys — those who got free or reduced-price lunches throughout primary school — who had at least one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grade, were 29 percent more likely to say they were considering college.
It does help, kind of. Wait, what?? I am into stats, and can't believe that one factor - having one black teacher in 3, 4, or 5th grade could possibly cause a 39% shift in graduation rates. Maybe the math is the problem here? How do you have a population where 13% drop out of high school and about half graduate?
Although I took a detour, I credit Mrs. Wilson in kindergaten, Mrs. Redmond in first grade, Miss Smith in third grade, and Mr. Hubright in sixth grade for leading me to want to become a teacher. So yes, I think an experience in elementary school can make a huge difference in how a student perceives themselves.
My extended family growing up was HUGE. What was it that changed in my generation that led some of us to college. Not one member of my extended family had ever gone to college until my generation. Then, suddenly, 3 of us went to college, although I one dropped out permanently, another dropped out but later returned and graduated, and I graduated. What changed? I don't quite know. But some little change began to make a huge difference.
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