We are losing Black teachers when we need them most
As my fifth graders flood into my classroom at 9:30 a.m. after their morning music class, I greet them all with a hello and a smile. I think about each one individually and the classroom of students that they create. I think about how I can see myself in each of them, thinking back to when I was a fifth grade student. I then wonder if they can see themselves in me. Have they ever had another teacher of color? Will they ever have another Black male teacher?
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The chances are high that I might be the only Black male teacher they will ever have. I am the only Black male teacher in my school. I can count on one hand the number of Black male teachers I had from Kindergarten all the way to my senior year in college. It’s four. I think about the impact this has not only on my students but on me as an educator.
Nationally, less than two percent of teachers are Black males, and in Philadelphia, the number is less than 5%. To this, I always asked the question: Why? Why is there such a shortage of Black teachers, and especially Black male teachers? The challenge is not only in hiring more teachers like me, but also in retaining them. I know firsthand as a Black teacher that there is often an unseen exhaustion of not having a sense of community within the school as well as having to combat implicit and explicit racial biases on a day-to-day basis. Whether it is parent volunteers from white families asking, “How can I help you?” as you enter the building, guest principals asking if you are a substitute teacher or “just here on special assignment,” or a new staff member walking into your classroom asking, “Where is the teacher?” while you are in the middle of teaching a lesson, the challenges are many and persistent.
In my eight years in education, I have seen efforts to diversify the classroom through texts, literature, and curriculum. This is great, but is still only one piece of the puzzle. Classrooms cannot be truly inclusive and diverse until the educators who are standing in front of the students and teaching are more diverse. And it doesn’t stop there. We need to work to also keep those teachers in that position by providing them with a space and a community to deal with the struggles they face on a daily basis.
School districts should have affinity groups in place for new Black male educators to connect with veteran teachers of color to allow a space to not only reflect on best teaching practices, but also to have conversations about the racial biases they have experienced. I have been a part of other organizations in my teaching career that offered something similar, and the impact was everlasting. Having the opportunity to connect with educators who look like me, who are going through similar experiences in a space where I am the minority, creates a great sense of empowerment. I felt more confident in my teaching abilities. I felt like I belonged, even when others made me feel like I didn’t.
We need to prepare for the future population of students and make sure that our teachers mirror that. The Black student population in Philadelphia is gradually increasing, while the Black teacher population is on a steady decline. There are nearly 1,200 less Black teachers in Philadelphia than there were 20 years ago. Students already do not see themselves in the teacher workforce and the problem will only continue to worsen if we do not insist on change.
Black teachers not only have a positive impact on students of color but on all students. We have the opportunity to use our lived experiences as persons of color to dismantle racial biases and systems within the school. We can make connections with the students who look like us, as well as offer important new perspectives for the students who do not.
Black teachers are not the future of education. They are the present. Now is the time to enact the changes we needed to make years ago. Let us not use this late start as an excuse to give up on the marathon. Let us create a space in our classrooms and school districts where Black students and Black teachers are seen, heard, and valued.
Ben Madry is a teacher in the School District of Philadelphia and a Teach Plus Pennsylvania policy fellow.