Take A Seat with Mrs. G.-- Notes from the Field on Teacher Diversity
As a former fellow with Urban Leaders Fellowship this summer, we were tasked with a partner organization and a DC council member to engage policy projects and activism engagement on a plethora of fronts. Touching ground on June 25th from a conference I spoke at regarding global education from Denver, this Illinoisian is flabbergasted at how fast the time has spun out. From metro rides into DC to car rides into Maryland, it has been invigorating, fast-paced, but slow enough for mirror work and profound levels of reflection and personal growth. The DMV is most definitely a vibe, I would’ve loved for someone to have warned me about that; I digress.
As an education activist, resident English teacher, nonprofit leader, and a Latina wearing proud her cultural identity from Chicago, my observations have been plenty. Set on quest to take my justice and equity work in education to the next level, my partner organization Strong Schools Maryland has certainly provided that platform by which to investigate the MD educational landscape while acquiring new skills in the process. Given a handful of deliverables to execute, I’d like to unpack one, a deeper dive if you will, and report my findings in a more off the cuff but on the record kind of energy. See also my research here.
I was given the task to investigate the teacher diversity reports by MD county as it relates to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a bill that was passed and is now in full swing holding counties accountable with millions of dollars as backing for pillars like Early Childhood Education, College and Career Readiness and Teacher Diversity to name some. The Blueprint aims to promote equitable outcomes for all students and stakeholders. It wasn’t hard to get behind this clarion call for Maryland-I was here for it! With my direct supervisor knowing that I have a particular passion for teacher diversity and representation as a woman and teacher of color, she tasked me with a license to take on an investigative lens and dive in without reservation.
To be clear, this is the kind of examination I do in my spare time. I’m a consultant and mentor director for a startup called Edifying Teachers (out of Maryland by the way), that promotes teacher diversity and aims to mentor specifically teachers of color, I’m in various national fellowships like Latinos for Education that concentrates on diversifying the teacher workforce among Latino communities and imploring them to take seats in positions of power. We have been commissioned to lead from our Latinx identity and if there’s not an immediate seat for us, we bring a folding chair and create one. We are our ancestor’s wildest dreams. We must operate from that power. What’s more, I conducted an expansive study on the current priorities of the US Department of Education, and uncovered that US Secretary Miguel Cardona has teacher diversity and racial equity at the forefront of his agenda. It goes without saying, I eat this stuff up for breakfast. I’m zoned in from a national perspective. Also a current virtual instructional coach with the Illinois State Board of Education for incoming teachers of color, in an effort to retain them, I’ve answered the call to mentor and nurture them with cultural sensitivity and a “wokeness” needed to help teachers of color circumnavigate unique challenges like implicit bias, microaggressions, the invisible tax, and more. Context should breed clarity, so this is mine.
Once I got into the reports per county, I was tasked to investigate if each county increased diversity and what steps were taken, or lack thereof. And what I came to discover was that 21 out of 24 counties completed the reports for the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, first off. Not a bad outcome at first, right? Yet, when I probed deeper, only 2 counties increased their teacher diversity by more than 3% over the course of a few school years. I arbitrarily chose a 3% range thinking for sure, many counties and LEA’s (local education agencies) could meet that standard. Charles and Prince George counties were the lone rangers in this modest increase at best. Interrogating the Fiscal year spending reports as well, Blueprint was making valiant efforts to disperse more money per fiscal year to high poverty counties like Baltimore City, Somerset, and Dorchester. They received way more money to match the needs between current FY cycles. In addition, students of color percentages in Maryland are averaging over 20-40% per county, and most diverse teacher staff percentages are in the single digits. So what were the main culprits?
I was crestfallen, but not surprised. Affected, but laced with a knowing this was probably going to be the final analysis. As my research with teacher diversity deepens from an overarching national perspective, I’ve concluded that old systems and schools of thought will continue to prevail in our education system. The teacher demographics in my home district in Illinois looks similar to Maryland’s with a whopping 80% Causian, 16% Latino, and 0.9% Black educators at the building level. By the way, our student population is almost 100% Latino. A necessary aside.
Going further, systemic racism is alive, well, and thriving. Power is not easily given up or shared, accountability and real responses to little progress are consistently dodged and nonspecific. The resounding question remains…why is it so hard to move the needle? Why is it so hard for entire states with legislative backing and dollars that result in a grassroots activist’s wildest dreams, is not enough to make substantial change? The rhetorical question provokes a physical response for me. As a woman of color who is still a practitioner in the classroom and who has been a recipient of systemic racism and mistreatment herself, this is personal.
How is it still not as urgent as it should be, the benefits of teacher diversity? Current findings in research and data point to teacher diversity improving academic performance and social-emotional wellbeing particularly among students of color. Students of color who encounter at least one teacher of color in their academic career are less likely to accrue extensive infractions, feel culturally affirmed, and show significant gains in their learning process because of wanting to meet the expectations of a teacher that resembles their cultural landscape and identity. In addition, diversifying the teacher workforce benefits all students in that there is an increase in tolerance, breaking down cultural divides, and generating empathy. Thus, it’s becoming increasingly important to hire and retain teachers of color. Yet, this ain’t enough.
We are facing the greatest teacher shortage crisis that our education system has seen in decades. Exacerbated by Covid and the flames of racial injustice and political upheaval, teachers of color are leaving in droves. Put more honest, according to the MD teacher diversity reports, they don’t even make it past the teacher preparation programs because of financial barriers, exclusionary state tests, and too colorful of a last name to be selected against his/her white counterparts for candidacy and enrollment.
Hence, these outcomes are almost identical at every turn and investigation for me. It is painstakingly clear that this is going to be a continuous fight that even our civil rights forefathers died trying to reverse. And yet here we are again…still.
It is not enough to check boxes and give nonspecific recommendations as to what you can do better next time recruitment time rolls around and submit your reports to your governance stakeholder. It is not enough to hang out with HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and MSI’s (Minority Serving Institutions), and see if some black and brown folks are available to recruit…and if not…we check the box and call it a day.
The work needs to go all the way back to teacher readiness. Culturally diverse folks need fairer access to quality teacher preparation programs with more financial support and opportunities for scholarships and grants. Then when they get there, we need better equipped programs that will be more culturally responsive and sensitive to diverse student and incoming diverse teacher populations. Once hired, teachers of color need unique systems of support and mentorship. We face stuff our white counterparts don’t, so we need a familiar hand to help navigate through the visible and invisible landmines folks of color need to hop over. Once supported, teachers of color need to feel valued, safe, and afforded opportunities to take risks. Upward mobility, professional growth and development. Empowered. Seen. Heard. Respected. Compensated. We can’t just focus on recruitment. We have to focus on retention, if not attrition. How are we going to retain teachers of color once we clear the path to the classroom door? From a personal and professional standpoint, these are my expert recommendations. I’m in the field. In the trenches. The practitioner's voice is needed in this conversation. That’s why I’m here. Getting more familiar with the practitioner's voice will draft way better legislation in the end. We need to keep informing policy, making recommendations, and being completely honest and forthcoming about the progress.
I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, and will continue to see what our nation’s teachers and students of color face. As a former Chicago teacher, now Title 1 educator in her home district, I grow suspect of individuals who want to toss out datapoints and research of which they are in such far proximity. Please don’t come at me with school to prison pipeline stats if you come with no solutions and RESPECT for those of us in the trenches trying not to get bulldozed over with a myriad of consequences that the pipeline brings. I’ve seen firsthand my students of color, labeled at-risk, come straight from county jail and arrive with a pink slip and the same clothes on their back from the night before. I’ve had undercover police officers yank my students from their chairs in the middle of 6th period English because they were part of a murder scene the night before. And as the undercover was taking my student, a female that time, she whispers to me, as I read her lips the words, “I’m sorry.” Never to see her again. I carry the stories of immigration, school to prison, death to gang violence, no registered address, poverty, and more in my teacher backpack regarding our nation’s kids. For some, I was the first Latina educator they had. The deep bonds, the connections, the support I was able to offer that helped so many of them, indeed. Yet, I almost left the profession because of the barriers that I myself face as a teacher of color.
We also need to normalize talking about teacher trauma as a pathway to healing and liberation. So many teachers of color are taking on tough teaching assignments in high needs districts with little to no support. Oftentimes, we absorb the situations of our students who are stuck at the intersection of so many systemic barriers that are near suffocating them. I’ve buried students to gun violence and have attended their funerals. Held grieving mothers, stared at empty desks. When we talk about teacher diversity and how to retain teachers of color, we are not being asked to paint the whole picture. You can’t complete a puzzle if you have missing pieces. As a teacher still dealing with the ravaging effects of secondary trauma, I have to apply pressure here. Diversifying the teacher workforce with authentic retention needs to specifically address this fragile yet volatile issue in education regarding teacher trauma for many of us–if you want us to stay that is.
Thus, the reason it’s so personal to me. To have educators of color that look like the diverse student population of the state of Maryland and beyond, is not just the difference between success and academic failure…for many it’s the difference between life and death. In the physical, and figuratively.
We have to do better. We can do better. We need radical honesty, racial reconciliation in our schools, and stakeholders at decision-making tables that resemble all the students they serve as starters. We need more accountability at the building, district, state and federal levels. We need more folks like myself, though rough around the edges, with a very valuable set of lived experiences that shed light on the real plights in the trenchwork of education in more rooms. If not invited, I’ve figured out ways to get in through the back door for some old fashioned, “good trouble.” Thank you to the late John Lewis for that evocation.
In closing, I’m forever inspired by the words of Dolores Huerta when she once said, “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” I will not stop fighting. I’ve got a feeling I’m just getting started.