Frederick Douglass’ advice is a blueprint for a brighter future for men in America. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer men are volunteering in the lives of young men, and the number of male educators has been dropping consistently over the past 30 years. According to the American Institute for Boys and Men, only 27% of men volunteered in 2023, five points lower than women. At the same time, the share of male teachers has dropped from 30% in 1988 to 23% in 2022. 

According to professor and author Scott Galloway, “The single greatest point of failure when a young boy comes off the tracks is when he loses a male role model.” With boys falling behind in schools while struggling with anxiety and depression at home, we are reaping the effects of the lack of male volunteers in our communities and schools. 

April is National Volunteer Month, an opportunity to celebrate the men and women who sacrifice their time to support a worthy cause. And as the world celebrates the 50th Anniversary of National Volunteer Month, we not only recognize the impact volunteers have on others, but we also appreciate the lasting benefit giving one’s time has on the volunteer. 

Americans increasingly support mandatory national service, with more than two-thirds of Americans backing it for 18-22 year-olds. Surprisingly, that support is even higher among young people ages 18-24, three-quarters of whom back mandatory national service. Parents support requiring their children to serve with such programs as the Big Brothers Big Brothers of America, AmeriCorps, Teacher For America, City Year or the United States Peace Corps. The largest group of parents with children expected to serve (ages 38 to 44) endorse mandatory national service at a rate of 62%. 

Volunteering also benefits the volunteers, especially for men who are reporting to be more lonely and less connected to their communities. The data is clear, volunteering will give men more social connection, positive health outcomes, and better mental health. The irony is that while young boys need male mentors and teachers, programs that offer volunteer opportunities are reporting less and less participation by men. 

In March, I celebrated Peace Corps Week and my time as an education volunteer in South Africa. Peace Corps Week honors how the service opportunity fosters connections and contributes to meaningful change — in the United States and around the world. Since 1961, over 240,000 American men and women have dedicated over two years of their life to serving in more than 60 developing countries around the world. Today more than 3,000 Peace Corps volunteers are serving: 56% of them are female, while about 44% are male. 

The shortage of men volunteering is not limited to international work; women are outpacing men at home too. Big Brother Big Sisters of America reports that more than 70% of children on their waitlist are boys because of a lack of Big Brothers. Similarly, only 32% of AmeriCorps volunteers, 34% of Teach For America members, and 39% of City Year volunteers are men. 

My time as a Peace Corps volunteer over 25 years ago sparked my career in education. My own experience makes me believe that targeting male volunteers could be the answer to closing the gap of male teachers in America. Nearly 40% of all Peace Corps volunteers are focused on the education sector in their host country, the largest group among all the programs. Men who serve as education volunteers are trained to teach subjects like English as a foreign language , math, science and special education in a foreign country. 

The experience these men gain serving in their host communities is often brought home and applied locally when they return. Nearly two-thirds of volunteers who serve as teachers in the Peace Corps work in the education section in America upon completion of their service. Similarly, more than half of the men and women who complete their City Year service work in education. 

States are already leading. Maryland requires 75 hours of community service for students to qualify for graduation and has just launched a “Young Men and Boys Initiative” to increase mentor recruitment and create pathways for young men. 

Other states have worked to promote volunteering as well, including: 

• California launched a statewide initiative seeking 10,000 men to serve as mentors, tutors and coaches to combat rising suicide rates, social disconnection and declining college attendance among young men.��
• Washington enacted a National Mentoring Month campaign to address the need for male mentors.
• Virginia created a Boys to Men Mentoring Network with local chapters focusing on young men.
• Arizona partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America to launch a statewide campaign to recruit male mentors.
• Wisconsin organized events to help recruit Black male mentors for young boys.

Nonprofits and male membership organizations have begun taking the lead as well. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America are partnering with greek letter membership organizations like Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi to increase the number of African-American male mentors.

In Georgia, the National Parents Union celebrates their NPU Parent Week of Action by encouraging men to volunteer in local schools. Through NPU and Black Male Educators, fathers and father-figures serve as bus monitors and crossing guards. The program has been a tremendous success leading to volunteers even becoming bus drivers. In other instances, these organizations are connecting fathers with opportunities to volunteer in classrooms reading to students. Introducing fathers into their children’s schools as volunteers could be the first step to them becoming teachers. 

We can do this, we can connect men with volunteer opportunities that give them meaning and purpose. For men who volunteer and find passion in mentoring young men and boys, opportunities to transition into teaching should be easier and less expensive. We need more male teachers; being laser focused on partnering with volunteer programs could be a silver bullet.

The historic investment in growing the teacher workforce, with an emphasis on male educators, is part of a number of initiatives Moore’s Democratic administration is taking to address the crisis of young men and boys in his state. He previously created Maryland’s Young Men and Boys Initiative within the Governor’s Office of Children to focus on mentorship, educational support and community resources that combat systemic disadvantages. 

An objective study of the state of mental health, education and employment of men and boys in America would lead to only one conclusion: they are in a state of crisis. Nationally, two-thirds of those in the top 10% of high school classes are young women, while young men make up two-thirds of the bottom 10%.

In Maryland, boys scored 11 points lower than girls on the National Assessment of Educational Progress’s Grade 8 reading assessments, one of the largest gaps in the nation. Boys in Maryland remain behind throughout high school as only 82.6% graduate high school compared to 88.8% for girls.

For those young men who do graduate from high school, fewer and fewer are choosing to attend college. That choice is having a detrimental impact on young men. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one-third of young men with only a high school degree are out of the labor force. 

America needs more teachers, but the crisis among men and boys highlights how much America needs more male teachers, in particular. Nationally, men account for just 23% of teachers, down from 33% a generation ago. Similarly, in Maryland less than one in four teachers are men. The : Male educators influence student discipline, engagement, expectations, and academic outcomes for all students, but especially for boys. 

That’s why the is helping launch the Male Educator Network (MEN), which will answer the call of elected officials at the local, state, and federal level looking for policy solutions to the growing shortage of male educators. MEN will also give the over 700,000 current and future male teachers in America the first national association dedicated solely to their long-term success from high school, through college, to graduate school, and throughout their career in education. 

Already a bi-partisan group of governors is raising awareness about how young men and boys are struggling to show up in their schools, homes, workplaces, and communities. That includes ensuring young men and boys are not negatively impacted by the shortage of male teachers. 

In response to the growing crisis of mental health among young men and boys in California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom last year issued an executive order directing state agencies to boost male recruitment in education and expand mentorship opportunities. Recently, California invested over $2 million in a marketing campaign to attract men to join the teacher workforce. 

In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive to boost male enrollment in post-secondary education and vocational training, including teacher apprenticeships. Michigan is taking a comprehensive approach with its Michigan Educator Workforce Initiative, which helps provide full financial support including tuition and fees to future teachers while enabling them to earn an income through a registered apprenticeship program. 

In Utah, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox raised the alarm nearly three years ago when he established the Task Force on the Wellbeing of Men and Boys. The task force was created to propose and implement policy solutions centered on addressing mental health, workforce and education. 

In Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont took time out of his 2025 State of the State address to challenge his legislature: “Here is a DEI initiative, which folks on both sides of the aisle may appreciate. We’re doing outreach to get more men into teaching. Statistically, boys are most likely to be the disconnected youth. A few more male mentors in the classroom – and coaching – just might help. What say you, Education Committee?” State policymakers in Virginia and Washington have also introduced bills this session to study the state of men and boys and respond with policy solutions. , a bi-partisan group of lawmakers in Virginia passed SB447, establishing an advisory commission for men and boys. The commission is responsible for issuing annual reports with legislative recommendations. In Washington, a bill to establish a commission was voted out of committee but did not move forward as it failed to receive a public hearing by the cutoff date for the fifth year in a row.

The growing interest in the crisis of men and boys is incredibly important but not enough. Interest and attention must be matched with timely, research-based, policy and budgetary solutions focused not only on recruitment but retention of male educators. Far too many male teachers leave the profession each year, many due to isolation and lack of support from other men in education. Male educators need one another to not only address the growing demands of being a teacher, but also to access the training and network to move up in the profession. That’s what the Male Educator Network can bring.

Focusing on men and boys should not distract us from the plight of women and girls. We can do both. We can’t have a world of thriving women in a world of struggling men. Male teachers don’t only serve young men and boys, their presence improves the lives of all students.

When I was a principal, over 200 Black and Brown boys saw me walking the halls of their elementary school every day. For many of them, I was one of the few Black male leaders they saw daily in positions of authority. That representation mattered. 

Those daily hallway interactions reminded me why representation in education is truly transformational. Unfortunately, it is also rare. The number of Black male educators in this country remains and principals making hiring decisions must work strategically to reverse that trend.

Nationwide, just in 2020-21 were Black males, compared with 6.5% three years before. Amid widespread concern about the national teacher shortage, it is critically important to pay attention not only to how many educators schools recruit, but to who America’s students see standing in the front of the classroom. 

Why does it matter? The dropout rates from high school for Black male students after an encounter with a single Black male educator and their college aspirations increase by 19%. Another that the graduation rate among Black students increased by 33% when they had a Black teacher between third and fifth grade. Representation is not a feel-good talking point. It is a measurable intervention.

Black boys have historically had lower academic outcomes than other demographics and drop out at higher rates in middle and high school. The research is clear: , responsive teaching practices can ensure that Black boys stay connected to their school community and receive instruction that affirms their identity. But those practices are only as powerful as the educators who bring them to life.

Teachers who share aspects of their students’ experiences can build trust quickly, recognize coded language or cultural nuances others might miss and challenge harmful stereotypes simply by standing in positions of authority. Their presence disrupts deficit narratives. Children in the nation’s schools deserve to see examples of leadership, intellect and excellence that reflect who they are.

My journey as an educator began at Morehouse College, where I mentored young children on Saturdays. I quickly fell  in love with working with students. Many of the Black boys I tutored lacked foundational literacy and math skills that would give them access to higher education and, eventually, careers of their choice. They didn’t lack potential; they lacked access and urgency. It was clear to me that they had been robbed of a civil right — the right to a quality education. For me, this was a cause worth fighting for.

When I had the opportunity during my junior and senior years to participate in a summer teaching fellowship through Uncommon Schools in New York City, I jumped at the chance. I arrived at Uncommon Schools Excellence Boys in summer 2011. I never imagined my five-year plan would include leading a school, but a mentor at Uncommon Schools saw something in me that I didn’t.

The work is challenging, but also rewarding. When students start the school year reading below grade level and are caught up within a matter of weeks, I know I’m having an impact. My legacy will not be a title, such as principal or superintendent — it will be seeing those children graduate from college and lead fulfilling lives. And I know I am not alone. Across our network, many Black male educators are quietly changing trajectories every single day.

At Uncommon Schools, 12% of teachers are Black males — far above the national average. That did not happen by accident. It required intentional recruitment and intentional retention.

On. Feb. 6, I co-led the third Uncommon Male Educator Summit in Brooklyn, where more than 140 Black male teachers, deans of instruction, operations directors, and superintendents came together for a professional development and community-building. This was not just a networking event. We shared classroom strategies, discussed how to maintain high expectations without being automatically cast as disciplinarians and built the kind of professional brotherhood that strengthens retention. When educators feel supported, they stay. When they stay, students benefit from continuity, mentorship and stability.

Nationwide, though, Black males make up only 1.3% of educators. That’s a stark number. But the solutions are clear. 

First, school leaders need to work harder to recruit prospective Black male teachers in colleges, especially Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which already produce in the country. Many of my colleagues are HBCU graduates who felt called to teaching because they wanted to bring Black excellence into classrooms.

Second, principals must invest in retention. Professional development designed for Black male educators to share experiences and build community is essential. As one colleague said, “this journey requires brotherhood.” Isolation drives attrition. Community drives commitment.

Third, school leaders should avoid automatically assigning disciplinarian roles to Black male educators. While we can and do set strong boundaries, our value extends far beyond behavior management. Research shows that Black male educators serve as and academic role models. They must be allowed to be instructional leaders, curriculum designers and culture builders — not just enforcers.

This conversation is not about exclusion. It is about expanding who stands at the front of America’s classrooms so all children see possibility reflected back at them.

I think about the hundreds of boys who saw me in the hallway each morning. For some, that daily interaction planted a seed — that leadership, scholarship and authority could look like them. That is not symbolic. It is life-altering.

It’s in the classroom where dreams take flight, and students can’t become what they can’t see. Black male students deserve to see someone like them, who inspires and leads. Only then will educators succeed in ensuring that Black boys soar academically and become the leaders of tomorrow. 

That includes examining the intellectual and cultural foundations of the holiday: the people, places and events that often get overlooked or erased in social studies curriculums.

Juneteenth, the federal holiday in American history, holds special significance for many educators as it was championed by one of their own. , a former teacher — well into her nineties — led the charge for national recognition. While many schools across the country are off on June 19 in observance, the reason why is not as often taught, says Knowles.

Knowles, CEO and founder of the educational consulting firm Teach Heal Build, focuses on creating culturally affirming classrooms and communities. In April, he published the latest installment in the BOLDLY BLACK workbook series “Mathematics and Science in Ancient Africa.” The set was designed for third graders to explore topical principles and practices tied to Black culture — offering lessons they may not encounter in a traditional school setting.

Ahead of this year’s Juneteenth holiday, ����Ӱ��’s Trinity Alicia spoke with Knowles about what’s shifting in social studies instruction — particularly in Florida, the power of culturally responsive curriculums in today’s political climate and what motivates him in today’s sociopolitical climate.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

����Ӱ��: This year marks the 160th anniversary of Juneteenth, but it’s only been recognized as a federal holiday since 2021. Why is it so important, from an educator’s perspective, that Juneteenth became a national holiday?  

Juneteenth allows both teachers and students to explore some of the deeper, more despondent areas of American history that are often avoided. It helps us step outside traditional narratives and unpack the multiple perspectives and experiences that different people, particularly within the African-American and African diaspora communities, have had throughout American history. In this way, it gives students a chance to better understand the ongoing process of freedom.   

For example, Juneteenth is often seen as the definitive end of slavery, but that’s an oversimplification. In reality, it represents a moment in a much longer and more complex journey toward emancipation. This perspective encourages both teachers and students to engage with history in a more nuanced and meaningful way. 

It was also, for almost as many years, largely left untaught in schools. What impact does that have on America’s students and our society as a whole?  

Having been in education for almost two decades, I’ve seen that when we don’t talk about important historical events — like those highlighted and signified by Juneteenth — we miss the opportunity to open up meaningful conversations in the classroom.   

I’ve witnessed how this silence can lead to the creation of a generation of students who are apathetic, especially when it comes to social justice and socio-economic issues that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. However, when we engage with authentic stories and histories, it gives students the chance to develop empathy, compassion and a broader understanding of others’ experiences. This helps create more open-minded individuals who are better equipped to contribute positively to the diverse society we live in today. 

An educator named Opal Lee, known to be “the grandmother of Juneteenth” was a key advocate for the national recognition of the holiday. What significance does this hold for you knowing a fellow teacher led that charge?

Within the framework of American capitalism, we often fail to give educators the honor, respect and homage they truly deserve. Educators are the ones who mold the minds of our children — they have the power and potential to shape not only students’ academic paths but also their overall life trajectories. When educators are empowered to lead conversations about topics like Juneteenth — and when we recognize that the push to make Juneteenth a national holiday was led by an educator — it highlights the strength and influence we possess as a profession.   

It shows that our impact extends far beyond the walls of the classroom and can resonate throughout society as a whole. We have the ability to unlock the minds of the next generation and to use our knowledge, especially historical knowledge, as a powerful tool for change. By doing so, we not only inspire other educators but also challenge our country to examine all aspects of its past — even the ones that don’t neatly fit the traditional narrative of American history.  

Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of human and civil rights activist Malcolm X, over 10 years ago on Juneteenth, “We’re in denial of the African holocaust.” Malcolm X would’ve been 100 years old last month, and we’re also 60 years from his assassination. On this Juneteenth, what do you want students to remember most about Malcolm X that they might not get from learning about other civil rights activists?  

As we celebrate Juneteenth this year, we must also reflect on civil rights activists beyond the immediate historical context of the holiday — especially when you think about figures like Malcolm X, who are usually misunderstood. His ideals and philosophy were labeled radical when taking a look at what he’s done overall for American history and the Black community in terms of uncovering darker truths as well as the denial of the American government and the experiences of African-Americans.

We live in a landscape right now and we’re told to move on and forget about those things we’re literally still dealing with as a community, but Malcolm X would want us to continue to advocate for our people and our students to be able to share our authentic experiences. And some of those experiences weren’t happy and joyous. But they have perpetrated so much psychological violence, which continues to happen in the classroom. And it was Malcolm X who stated that “only a fool would allow his oppressors to educate his children.”  

What Juneteenth does within Black communities forces us to step up based on the sentiments that Malcolm X expressed within that quote to be able to affirm and be able to become more self-reliant when it comes to our economic issues and social issues. But when it comes to educational issues and being more responsible and more accountable for teaching our history, we’re no longer contingent on systems to be able to teach the truth and history in the United States. 

From the bans on AP African American History courses to the pushback against DEI policies in schools nationwide, how have you navigated this climate as an educator in Florida?

Florida is one of the most prominent hotspots for controversy in education and arguably an epicenter of these debates. We’ve seen significant pushback against inclusive and truthful historical narratives, and it forces educators in schools to sanitize history and continue to perpetuate a fairytale traditional narrative of American history. This sort of censorship disproportionately impacts social studies instruction, which creates a sense of frustration and a disconnect, which leads to a disengagement with students.   

Throughout my work in public education, I have continued to push back and resist by looking at some of our state standards and benchmarks when it comes specifically to social studies and ensuring that I can tie in our stories and tie in those things that people label “controversial” or “political.” I have weaponized the language itself and weaponized some of the state standards so we can continue to tell our stories unredacted. 

Why is it important that Black parents, teachers and administrators are well represented in the decision-making process for schools?

One of the aspects of American history I don’t think that we unpack enough as a community is just some of the deleterious impacts that integration had within the Black community. A lot of the institutions, specifically the educational institution after integration, was absorbed by the dominant, more prevalent society. 

It is important, even within the current state of the system we’re in, that our voices are heard, our perspectives are heard especially when it comes to policies, processes, practices and procedures in education. Those who live in the community can have better, more viable solutions to some of the issues that we contend with within a community. I’ve seen processes within education when people outside of our community are making decisions, and those decisions are not necessarily meeting or accommodating the needs of the community. 

It is beyond critical that Black educators and educational leaders are given space to represent the issues and also the authentic, lived experiences and even some of the cultural norms that exist within those communities so they can be in a position to represent and also advocate for the things that are needed within the Black community.

In your years as an educator and advocate, what surprises you the most about trends and interests among Black students now versus when you were a kid in America? Do Black students and educators come into school — and specifically social studies classes — thinking, “What’s the point?”

Many children, especially those who are informed, are becoming activists around current events tied to identity. Students who are becoming outspoken, specifically a lot of our student-led organizations such as like Black Student Unions, for example, are able to take charge against the racism and bigotry here in Florida and amplify their voices around some of the injustice that is taking place in curriculum, which essentially violates our First Amendment.

You just a new workbook for students, “BOLDLY BLACK: Science and Mathematics in Ancient Africa.” What do you hope to achieve by releasing this series?

Information is widely more available than it was during my high school era in the 1990s simply due to the digital age we live in today. Sometimes we look at technology as being a destructive force, but it influences me to maintain a working knowledge of it in order to effectively show students how to access the information that we couldn’t when we were their ages.

Part of my activism and my solution-based approaches to things we’re dealing with within the Black community, specifically regarding American history that focuses on our experiences, is creating [this] Afro-centric workbook series that is geared towards students from grades three through 12. My third grade title is “Mathematics and Science in Ancient Africa,” and my goal is creating a curriculum that is concise and also digestible within the hands of parents and also community members.

In states where legislation is trying to restrict what we can say and do within the classroom, communities — and specifically Black communities — need to start building their own infrastructures and using some of the space within the Black communities. For example, community centers and also churches are safe, liberating spaces that can be found in Black communities that teach our history. 

Community members and those who may not be experts in pedagogy and pedagogical approaches can pick this up and share this information with their children. Some of those gaps and things that may be missing within the public educational system are now within the hands of the community to be able to educate and affirm all our children.

Thinking about classrooms and curriculums across the country — what keeps you up at night, and what are you most hopeful for?

In this current climate, I have such hope and optimism. I understand that Black communities have gone through far worse. Our whole experience within just the United States even before it became the United States and colonial America has been turmoil. 

But us as Black people have had agency and power to resist the oppression and repression of our voices and our experiences as well as our humanity in this country in the most profound ways. We’ve found ways to resist, push back and also provide for ourselves in order to achieve self-sufficiency in many points within our history. 

I feel hopeful moving forward that even if a public educational space is under attack, we will start to create those liberating spaces in solidarity like we’ve done throughout history in order to rebuild those institutions and infrastructures that were either destabilized or lost through integration. 

Considering all of those variables, there is very little pessimism within me around the things that have taken place and very little fear because, as Kendrick Lamar , “we gon’ be alright.”

This statement is not about racial preference, or any so-called “woke” priorities. It’s about improving learning outcomes for all children. And right now, with public schools divided among  even more than they have been since the Civil Rights era, those who claim to care about Black children’s success in school should care whether those students see themselves reflected in those teaching them. 

the power of Black teachers and culturally responsive learning environments. They contribute to higher achievement, increased critical thinking skills, and better preparation for a global workforce. By contrast, eliminating these efforts ensures that future generations, especially Black and Latino students, face even greater barriers to success.

Ronald Reagan understood this. Reagan, the GOP’s lionized conservative icon, encouraged our country to put more Black teachers in our classrooms. 

In 1987, Reagan issued  recognizing the significant contributions of Black teachers within American society. It urged citizens to honor Black educators and acknowledge the historical challenges they’d surmounted. 

The proclamation states: “So that America continues to remain a land of opportunity for all people… we should encourage a wide representation of African Americans as teachers and continued concern for African American students.” 

Reagan, the classic “America First” president, cared enough about our country’s future to emphasize the need for Black educators. But in today’s GOP, which has embraced racial polarization and denies the need for any race-based initiatives, Reagan would be derided and booted out.  

Today, Ronald Reagan would be labeled “woke” (although others had more  for him) by the Trump administration and his followers.��

The divergence between these two Republican presidents highlights how far half of the body politic has moved in just under four decades. We are moving socially and politically backwards at a time when our country is becoming increasingly more . 

The recent executive orders, veiled as an attempt to reduce government spending, and applied on Trump’s first day in office before any real due diligence on expenditures could be accounted for, set sights on . 

While federal dollars account for about  to public schools, public schools are an easy political target. Weaponizing racial equity initiatives that support students — such as actively recruiting more Black teachers — helps score cheap political points. The effect on students is of no concern to those now in control.

Historically, Republican leaders, even if reluctantly, recognized that investing in education and ensuring access for all Americans, including Black students, was crucial for national prosperity. 

The Republican party of Reagan’s era somewhat embraced the contributions of Black educators and the essential importance of education for Black Americans to succeed. Today it has been declared that to “Make America Great Again,” we must erase all mention of race from public discourse in the name of parity while  to remove inconvenient and painful realities. 

Reagan’s public acknowledgment of the need for Black educators and inclusive learning environments reflects at least a basic understanding that when diverse talent flourishes, so does the nation and its economy. This appears to elude current Republican leadership.

We have to ask: What does the Republican party lose by having a diversified workforce? An increased number of Black teachers? More educated Black students? What could be gained if we did have all three?

As their anti-woke fever dreams come to life, they are destroying the very tools that could make America stronger, more competitive, more prosperous – and actually great.

The Republican party of Reagan’s era paid lip service to the idea that Black achievement was part of America’s success. The Republican party of Trump, however, seems determined to move the country closer to a dangerous precipice by erasing that idea altogether.

A 30-year educator in the Compton Unified School District, Inge is a and . 

He also taught Lamar’s 7th-grade English class at Vanguard Learning Center, where he shape Lamar’s academic foundation, introducing him to poetry, nurturing his ability to think critically and developing his passion for language. Now, Lamar’s an award-winning, internationally renowned hip hop artist.

Back in the classroom, Inge used to talk to Lamar about the importance of using his platform to drive change – an idea that would resonate throughout the rapper’s career. Lamar’s journey from Compton to earning and a reflects values that deeply resonate with Inge’s classroom philosophy: hard work, creativity and ability to balance education and talent. 

Now, joining the list of achievements is Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance, which Inge says is “a salute to Black history and an opportunity for millions of people to witness Lamar’s dynamic artistry.” It a bigger audience than the game itself, is officially the most-watched halftime show performance of all time and the first show with a solo rapper to , according to the Apple Music.

Inge spoke with ����Ӱ��’s Trinity Alicia about how Lamar’s academic foundation laid the groundwork for his storytelling success and how it continues to inspire his students in Compton.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When it was announced that Kendrick Lamar would perform at the Super Bowl, what was your first emotion?   

I had a great feeling of joy to know someone who has honestly put in the work gets to be at the level he’s at and the stage he was going to be on. The city felt good. My students felt good. It was a circle of joy.   

Everyone was so happy for him because it was a chance for millions of people to see just how dynamic this person really is. It was a perfect example of how putting in hard work gets you great outcomes. It gave me a sense of pride to know he worked hard to be rewarded with this opportunity. He deserved to be there.  

How did you feel when you saw the halftime show?

My initial feeling was that it was a message he was trying to send to both America and to the hip hop culture in itself. There was a lot of thought put into each aspect of the show, and I’m proud of how it all came together because he did exactly what I know he’s supposed to be doing — teaching and sending messages to others. It was an awesome feeling for me as his former English teacher.   

What do you see as the major themes in his performance? Do you think there’s particular significance that those themes were performed at that particular Super Bowl in our current political climate?  

The major theme I saw in the Super Bowl performance was to wake up and understand what’s going on from an African-American perspective and a people of color perspective. The different stages, different colors, different movements, each song and each skit he did — even down to Samuel L. Jackson’s performance — it was so clear that everything was intentional.  

It was a teachable moment for those who wanted to look more deeply at what exactly Lamar was saying. And to me, it all made sense because I know he loves to debate — not so much a matter of right and wrong — but the meaning behind things and why it impacts people. So I feel he went into this wanting people to analyze and discuss the performance.  

Do you see parallels between your role as a Black male educator and what Lamar does with his art?   

Yes! I see one great parallel between what Lamar does and what I do — and it’s something I used to talk to him about — which is using your platform. I have a platform in the classroom and he has a platform on the stage. My platform is to give students wisdom, encouragement and understanding of what the future could look like for them. On stage, Lamar’s platform is to express what it feels like to live in an inner city, for those who have never been to an inner city, and to give people hope. A lot of his music deals with hope. It may not come in the way people expect, the music may have some colorful words every now and then, but at the end of the day, it’s about expression. I’m very happy he’s using his platform to share hope and not expressing negative aspects of hip hop that can sometimes come from the big stage.  

This Black History Month, are there any teachable moments that can be extracted from the halftime performance?  

The art of creativity. African-Americans were historically stripped of their creativity when brought over to this country, and here we are in the present where I feel the renaissance is coming back out and through hip hop — which is a creative outlet on its own — in music.  

When I saw all of the intentional choreography, I felt Lamar used the halftime show performance as a whole to salute Black history and I believe it was presented from the standpoint of how, from the beginning of our existence in this country, our poise and livelihood as Black-Americans flourishes when we are being creative.

Tell us about Lamar as a student. What unique qualities did he exhibit as a student, if any? Was there any indication early on that he had exceptional potential? 

One of the things I remember about him is that he was very quiet, which may be a little strange for others to hear considering this megastar can get on stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people to perform song after song. But when I taught him in the seventh grade, I felt he was academically sound for his age and just needed someone to push him in the right direction. 

I spent a lot of time instilling in Lamar that vocabulary is super important. When my students go out and speak in public, I want them to be prepared to use language comparable to their age group. So for his assignments, I would circle words on his paper he could improve on and give him a thesaurus to identify synonyms for those words to deepen his vocabulary. I told him I wanted him to have a little shock level because there is an understanding that people from Compton are not going to have the best profile. But I remember telling him I wanted him to be able to show people through his speech that he is sharp, strong, an academic … and not someone who is only successful on YouTube and on social media. 

How do you help students connect to their creativity and writing with activism and social justice? How do you think this shaped Lamar as the artist we know today?   

Connection with students is extremely important to me as an educator. I believe in this connection because it helps me understand how my students operate and I’m able to have a plan on how to individually impact each one of their lives both in and out of the classroom.  

It’s also very important for me to understand culture. I need to know what’s going on at home and their environments because I am aware I can’t teach everyone the same. When students believe in you just like you believe in them, you create a family dynamic in the classroom. I have always been a family-oriented teacher and once I have a student in my class, they are family forever. 

In that same dynamic with Lamar, he understands that people are going through things and wants to create music that makes people dance, but also invites listeners to think about their surroundings and to remind them there is a light out of the struggle if they work hard.

In your classroom, how do you encourage students to imagine, create and push boundaries in their own work? How do you believe Lamar’s schooling and upbringing in Compton translate into his character and art in the current political climate?  

One thing I do in my class when we are doing any type of creative writing, I tell students I will take the boundaries off of their assignments. That means if an essay or poem they’re writing causes them to say a word that isn’t deemed appropriate for school — as long as they don’t say it too many times — then it’s okay because I want them to say what they truly feel. Poetry is all about the five senses, and that in particular is not something I need to teach, but I just like to remind them of this so that when they are writing, they can reflect on their experiences and emotions. What I don’t want them to do is mute themselves so that what they’re writing isn’t what they feel.

I encouraged Lamar in the same way. At that time, many of my students were coming to school very angry and if something causes trauma, frustration or an inertia of energy building up, students have to be able to get it out. Expanding the boundaries in class was the thing that helped. 

Lamar’s music, especially in his later albums, has been known to be deeply shaped by themes of social change, inequality, activism and criticism of politicians. Do you think you saw the beginnings of this in his early writings in classroom assignments or discussions? 

I didn’t really see writings of social consciousness from Lamar. When you’re in the seventh grade, you’re typically going off of what the teacher is assigning. But I remember his passion for writing was unique and different from his classmates. Some of his writings were a little more thought-provoking. What happens is when you’re focused on writing and passionate about your writing, as you get older and start to see more outside of your city, surroundings and community, you will start to see gaps. When you start to see gaps, when you start to feel frustration. When you start to feel frustration, you start to express it. 

With Lamar, he expressed his feelings in class through his writing and does the same thing as an artist. Now, we are here today with someone who is expressing a full emotional closet, from his joy to his insecurities to his trauma throughout his music.

Compton Unified has recently been ranked first in reading performance, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in both math and reading, according to the Ed Recovery Scorecard. Given Lamar’s rise from Compton to global recognition, how do you think his journey can inspire students in fostering the art of storytelling? 

One thing I feel that our students of today can be inspired by Lamar’s journey is to understand the art of working hard and being passionate. Even though students are doing well, they need to continue to work hard.

Sometimes social media waters down the art of working hard to achieve goals. Since I know Lamar personally, I have the ability to give students a bird’s eye view of what it takes on a day-to-day basis to earn Grammys and to be the first hip hop artist to be given a Pulitzer Prize winner, which is no small feat. 

I give my students an understanding of how many hours it could take for Lamar and his team to make one song or the amount of songs he writes that fans will never get to hear on the radio. This is about a lifelong journey of trying to do your best in every aspect of your life. 

I use Lamar as a [symbol] of hope because he came from Compton. And while my students may not become a Kendrick Lamar, perform on stage or emerge into a world-renowned artist, I want them to understand what it takes to get to a level of success to be world-renowned in other industries and professions. 

What’s something that most of the world probably doesn’t know about Lamar?  

I’m most proud of the person Lamar is off stage. I love the man he’s become and the person he is striving to be.

When I taught him, he enjoyed being around his friends and sat next to his cousin in my class. Now, I can see the same regard for relationships in his life. He likes to be present with family. He doesn’t mind being vulnerable with himself and others he trusts in order to share about the insecurities he’s working on. It’s why I feel his music is very genuine … it’s debatable, you can talk about it and you can teach it. There are so many emotions that can be translated from his music. 

I don’t know how I would feel if I taught an artist and the nature of music was very negative and went against everything I believed as a person. But I thank God I get the privilege of being associated with someone who is out here, making an impact, making music that gives people hope and encourages them.  

Reflecting on this incongruity, we’ve come to the conclusion that to be a Black teacher in America today is to — as James Baldwin put it — “be in a rage almost all the time,” while simultaneously operating in a constant state of hope. And, though no community of any kind is or should be considered a monolith, we wanted to dedicate some time to exploring why that is through our own experiences and the experiences of Black teachers around us.

Hope

, compared to 78% of white teachers. While we can’t speak for every Black teacher, we know that for us, part of the pull to stay is the sense of activism imbued in our daily work. We know a Black educator’s presence — in the classroom, but also in the building — instills a sense of hope in our students who look like us and even those we don’t teach. Their hope gives us hope.

, compared to just 13% of white teachers. In Black traditions, we train our replacements. We know that the work we are doing is so connected to children and grandchildren who will look like our own children and grandchildren, that determining who will lead the next generation of classrooms is work that must be attended to. 

, compared to just 25% of white teachers. We believe part of the explanation behind this is our deep belief in the abilities of our students. We know that two teachers can look at the same student so differently, and that our belief in them is critical to their success. We also know that when the pandemic paused formal schooling, teachers of color had the antennae to pick up on the signals of learning happening outside of it. 

We recognized the leadership roles kids were playing: managing budgets, taking care of siblings and getting them fed. And we know how to tap into that resilience and independence to catch students up on the schooling they missed, because the alternative — to give up, to lose hope — is unacceptable.

Rage

The optimism expressed in these survey results must be tempered by recognizing it is not fueled solely by hope. It is also fueled by rage.

We know that if we leave the classroom, there may be no one left — not one Black teacher — to represent the culture and community when we’re gone. We don’t just ask. “Who’s going to teach my kids if I leave?” but also, “Who is going to support them in the racial and cultural context(s) in which they’re being educated? Who is going to challenge the misrepresentations in their curriculum? Who is going to make these spaces less anti-racist, less anti-immigrant, less anti-Black?”

And, while survey results show that Black teachers and teachers of color are seemingly more optimistic than white teachers, they still �������’t optimistic: . It’s an unthinkable but relatable paradox, especially as Black male educators, to want more people who look like us to join us in a difficult and lonely profession. K-12 education more often than not is a hostile space for Black people, and changing it from the inside out is exhausting. 

This difficult, lonely profession sometimes looks like coming to school the day and listening to complaints about the broken copy machine. It sometimes looks like facing “professionalized racism:” experiencing a racist incident that brings you back to an experience you had as a student, and grappling simultaneously with the trauma of that memory and its repetition in the moment. 

It sometimes looks like school districts claiming they want more Black teachers,but refusing to take meaningful steps to stabilize, secure and support these educators, such as through the . No one has Black teachers in their backpacks, but there are steps and models for school and district leadership teams can and must take to address both ends of the pipeline: recognition, recruitment and retention.

Organizations like the Center for Black Educator Development are certainly a source for Black teachers by providing a model and a lens for how to invite youth into the profession and how to treat them — providing safe and sustainable cultures that ignite and encourage them to show their brilliance — in order to retain them.

To be a Black teacher in the United States is to live in a state of activism and analysis fueled by both hope and rage, because the alternative is to live in a state of utter despair. It has to get better. We must lift our students as we climb ourselves, even if we are also balancing on a precipice.  We work tirelessly alongside teachers of color, who believe that it will get better, who channel their hope and their rage into fighting for every one of our students. 

Teachers who express optimism do so not because they are happy now, but because they believe deeply in what they are working toward.

The nonprofit released its analysis alongside a . Previously, they’ve tracked the racial makeup of teachers as compared to their students; this year, for the first time, they’ve added a new metric: the diversity of the college-educated workforce nationally.

“Comparing teacher diversity to student diversity is meaningful, and it is important for students to see themselves reflected in their teachers,” said Heather Peske, president of the organization known as . “But we also have to make sure that as we’re setting goals for diversifying the workforce, [that] we set goals based on who we can … attract into the teacher workforce right now.” 

Historically, teachers have been slightly more diverse than the population of college-educated working adults, a trend which shifted around 2020. As of the most recently available data, teachers from historically disadvantaged groups make up 22.6% of working-age adults with degrees but 21.1% of the state teacher workforce. 

While the 1.5-point gap may seem small, Peske told ����Ӱ�� that it’s significant and points to what she called a “troubling trend:” increasingly people of color are either choosing other professions or are leaving the classroom. 

“We’re really using [the] dashboard both as a rearview mirror … but also as a way to forecast the possibilities of where we’re going. We worry that the gap could grow larger, and so that’s why we think it’s really important to pay attention to it now,” she said.  

The authors of the NCTQ report hypothesize this points to long-standing issues in the teaching profession, including low pay and status, inequitable hiring and the uncompensated and added responsibilities teachers of color often face — like mentoring or interpreting for families— known as the “invisible tax.”

These numbers also shed light on where in the pipeline the disparity originates, according to Sharif El-Mekki, founder and CEO of the , who also contributed to the report.

“I think sometimes if we’re only looking at the student and teacher parity … there’s a tendency to just be hypnotized by the problem,” he said, “where this analysis that NCTQ was doing through this dashboard actually gives us even more concrete steps to take to inform our planning.”

El-Mekki said it’s not only important to incentivize people of color to become teachers but also to focus on their retention once they enter the classroom — teacher turnover is higher for teachers of color (22%) than white teachers . Black teachers have some of the highest levels of student loan debt, he added, so offering scholarships or debt relief can make a huge difference. 

“We didn’t want our pursuit to rebuild a Black teacher pipeline to be disconnected from the social and economic realities that Black youth may face,” he said, so his organization designed a Black Teacher Pipeline Fellowship, which provides support to educators socially, professionally and financially. They also emphasize the importance of early exposure, offering career and technical education courses to high schoolers who may be interested in becoming teachers later on. 

NCTQ’s new dashboard continues to show a persistent gap in diversity when comparing the teacher workforce to student populations.  The report cites 48.8% of students nationally who come from historically disadvantaged groups vs. 21.1% of teachers who do. That number was actually two percentage points closer in 2014, with 18.3% of teachers and 44.2% of students.

The organization defines historically disadvantaged groups as including all teachers of color except those who identify as Asian. “While Asian people have certainly experienced discrimination in U.S. history, we haven’t seen the effects of discrimination show up in terms of their educational experiences or earnings outcomes. Asian students often outperform white students, and, as a demographic group, are least likely to suffer from a poor education,” an NCTQ spokesperson told ����Ӱ��.

That being said, Asian students are less likely than many of their peers of color to see themselves represented in their teachers’ racial identities. Almost 11% of working-age adults with degrees and 5.4% of students are Asian, yet only 2.2% of the state teacher workforce is.

While the percentage of Black educators largely mirrors the population of working-age Black adults with degrees (both at roughly 9%), the percentage of Black students at 15% is six points greater. 

To El-Mekki that demonstrates that there is an untapped Black teacher potential in the number of Black students who could — and do — choose teaching as a career if and when they get the opportunity to go to college. This allows advocates to then probe a little bit deeper, and focus on how to get more Black youth to and through college, so a larger pool is eligible to join the teacher workforce down the line.

An even starker trend exists for Hispanic teachers: Just over 10% of both working-age adults with degrees and the teacher workforce identify as Latino, while 28% of students do. 

The dashboard also includes more granular analysis at the state level, where researchers explored the racial makeup of teacher preparation programs in order to better understand their contribution to diversity between 2019 and 2021. This serves as a roadmap, Peske said, demonstrating which teacher preparation programs are “leading the way towards a more diverse teacher workforce, and which teacher prep programs may be adding roadblocks to diversity by actually making the workforce more white.” 

Extensive research has pointed to the benefits of a diverse teacher workforce, both for students of color and for white students, according to Constance Lindsay, a and assistant education professor at the University of North Carolina.

“For particular populations, it’s very important to have access to a teacher of color or teachers demographically similar to them.” she said, “I would say, particularly for Black boys, definitely on both the quantitative and qualitative side, it’s been demonstrated many times [that] it’s super important for them.”

Some other research highlights:

• Teachers of color produce additional positive academic, social-emotional and behavioral outcomes for all students, On average, students of all races (in upper-elementary grades) show stronger gains in reading and math when they have a teacher of color. 
  
• Black students in Tennessee randomly assigned to at least one Black teacher in kindergarten through third grade are 13% more likely to and 19% more likely to enroll in college compared to their Black schoolmates who were not. Additional data from North Carolina revealed similar findings. For the most disadvantaged Black males, conservative estimates suggest that exposure to a Black teacher in primary school cuts high school dropout rates by almost 40%.
  
• Black students in North Carolina matched to a Black teacher tend to have and are less likely to experience , such as expulsion and suspension.
  
• Black students matched to Black teachers are less likely to be identified for .
  
• Student–teacher race and ethnicity matches were associated with for Latino students in a California high school district.

“We have this rapidly diversifying public school student population that is tomorrow’s workers, citizens, etc,” Lindsay added. “We know that of all of the different things that we’ve tried to do to get rid of achievement gaps, having diverse teachers is … a very efficient and effective intervention.”

Disclosure: Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, The Joyce Foundation and Walton Family Foundation provide funding to the National Council on Teacher Quality and ����Ӱ��.

Before Brown, in the 17 states that had segregated school systems, . Even in the face of systemic inequities, Black teachers held kids to high expectations, and Black communities came together to schools that helped move young people into greater opportunity. But in the aftermath of the decision, tens of thousands of Black teachers and school leaders of the field due to resistance of some white people to integration. This had a profound impact on who was teaching students, and a detrimental economic effect on the tenuous, emerging Black middle class.

For several years after Brown, young Black people who wanted to become educators — including Marc’s mother — were still denied entry into postsecondary teaching programs in the South, solely because they were Black. Sybil Haydel Morial did go on to earn her master’s degree in education, at Boston University in 1955.

It’s long past time to ensure that the nation’s schoolchildren have the chance to learn from diverse, effective educators.

Today, just and are people of color, and in , students do not have a single teacher of color. Yet, are people of color. Moreover, the proportion of adults aged 25 to 64 who are teachers is nearly for white adults (3%) than adults of color (1.1%). 

Given the depth of the around the country, it’s just common sense to build stronger pipelines to bring thousands of talented, diverse educators into the classroom.  

But solving teacher shortages is not the only reason that educator diversity matters. Research shows that benefit from having educators of color. And , in particular, achieve at higher levels and are less likely to be suspended or drop out of school.  

We know firsthand the powerful effect diverse educators can have on the trajectory of a young person’s life. Tequilla grew up in poverty in rural Arkansas and lived with her grandparents, who were sharecroppers. They didn’t have indoor plumbing until she was 12 years old. She credits early and continued access to effective educators, many of whom looked like her, as a central reason for her climb to Yale and now CEO of TNTP.  

At a time when13-year-olds are recording the and racial wealth gaps are widening, the nation needs to leverage as many strategies as possible to get real results for kids. Curriculum matters a great deal to student success, but it takes diverse, skilled educators to bring even the best academic programming to life. 

It’s clear to us both that the traditional pathway to teaching is not meeting the demand. State and education leaders must embrace new and alternate pathways to teaching that are more attractive to the nation’s increasingly diverse talent pool. According to TNTP’s report , traditional teacher preparation programs are far less diverse than the public school student population. In some programs, participants are more than 90% white. 

Encouragingly, many states and districts are starting to adopt alternative certification programs and “grow your own” programs to provide more accessible and affordable pathways into the classroom for diverse teachers, including high school students, classroom assistants and paraprofessionals.  

We know that the best recruitment strategy is a strong retention strategy. To better retain all educators, including teachers of color, the nation must ultimately rethink the industrial-era model that has dominated public education for the last century. 

Seventy years post-Brown, it’s clear that doing nothing is not an option. That’s why we applaud efforts like the , a coalition of which TNTP is a part, that has an ambitious goal of dramatically expanding and diversifying the educator workforce.   

After all, the nation is at an inflection point. There aren’t enough effective, diverse teachers. But there’s also an incredible opportunity ahead. The nation can draw on evidence-based strategies to diversify the educator workforce. Doing so will benefit students today and have a profound economic impact for families and communities of color in years to come.  

Our hope is that the nation does not waste any more time. Now is the moment to see the full promise and potential of Brown v. Board of Education through the finish line. 

, the Supreme Court decision that desegregated public schools, stands in the collective national memory as a turning point in America’s fight for racial justice. But as the U.S. observes its 70th anniversary, Brown also represents something more somber: It ultimately led to thousands of Black teachers losing their jobs.

Maryland’s teacher workforce still remains majority white, according to data recently released by the state Department of Education, but advocates are hopeful that new laws could help turn that around.

According to figures slated to be discussed by the state Board of Education on Tuesday, about 68% of teachers in classrooms during the 2023-24 school year are white. In comparison, about 20% of teachers are Black and about 5% are Latino or Asian.

That is little changed from the last five years. State data shows that for the five school years starting in 2019-20, the average percentage of white teachers in Maryland was 70%, while about 19% were Black and about 4% were Latino or Asian.

During that same time frame, the department’s said, the racial disparity of students in the classrooms was markedly different: white students at 34%; Black students at 30%; Latino students at 21%; and Asian students at 7%.

In terms of local school systems, Prince George’s County and Baltimore City have the most teachers of color at 79% and 61%, respectively, this school year. Those also represent the state’s majority Black jurisdictions. Montgomery County, the state’s biggest school system, has the fourth-highest percentage of teachers of color, at 31%, just below the state average of 32%.

“We believe that when you have a diverse teaching force, it helps students of color see themselves. It also helps all students,” said Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association, the state’s teacher’s union.

Bost said some teachers of color are asked to handle other responsibilities outside their classrooms. A 2022 provided quotes from unnamed educators during a statewide diversity teacher roundtable.

For example, Bost said, if a Black teacher is one of the few in a school, that person would be asked to help assist a fellow teacher, administrator or other employee if there was a situation with a Black student. Or if a teacher is bilingual, that person is “often pulled out the class to interpret” for a parent who may not speak English.

“That creates a hardship … which is unfair to those educators of color,” Bost said.

Bost said progress should start later this year thanks to last year’s passage of the state’s .

That law will let eligible college students who major in education and attend a school where at least 40% of them receive federal Pell Grants, in an associate or bachelor’s degree program, receive an initial stipend. The nearly one dozen colleges eligible for the program included all four of the state’s historically Black colleges and universities, and about three community colleges.

Legislation signed into law last month by Gov. Wes Moore (D) – and – would allow for any community college student pursuing education to be eligible for a stipend. The legislation would allow recipients in their first or second year at a higher education institution to receive a stipend starting in the 2024-25 school year through 2026-27 school year.

The initial stipend was previously set to be given out in this school year, but a states it was delayed a year because the $10 million for the program only “recently” became available to the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

The money will come from a teacher retention fund, which will be administered by the commission. The Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA), within the commission, will determine the amount of the stipends.

The legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Nancy King (D-Montgomery) and Del. Eric Ebersole (D-Baltimore County) will go into effect July 1.

Moore also signed two different bills aimed at helping to increase teacher diversity in the state’s more than 1,400 public schools. and will provide alternative pathways into the teaching profession for recent college graduates and new teachers.

The new law would require that applicants get at least a 3.0 grade-point average on the most recent degree, but it would not required that students take one of the Praxis tests, which measure knowledge and classroom skills to become certified teachers. One test can cost $300.

“There’s not a great correlation between that [Praxis] test and teaching skill. It’s not a great indicator how good a teacher someone is going to be,” Ebersole, who worked as a teacher for 35 years, said Monday. “Offering alternative pathways and increasing our teacher workforce is vital.”

This was originally published on Maryland Matters.

Passersby can be forgiven for mistaking Friendship Aspire Academy for a place of worship: One of the elementary school’s main buildings is actually a repurposed church, a towering, ‘60s-era cast concrete sanctuary complete with a pipe organ tucked into an old choir loft.

The architecture suits the tiny elementary school on South Hazel Street, which has taken on a kind of spiritual significance for families since it opened six years ago. The first of seven charter schools here either taken over or built from the ground up by the Washington, D.C.-based , the school has quietly earned a position of trust in a community whose schools often mirror the city’s decline.

From 2010 to 2020, Pine Bluff’s population fell 12.5%, the largest drop in any metropolitan area in the U.S. Meanwhile the district lost nearly 2,000 students, or about 41% of its enrollment, according to .

But in just six years, Friendship Aspire Academy has jumped to the top of the ranks of elementary schools, not only in the city but the state, thanks in large part to fully staffed before- and after-care programs, wraparound services like tutoring, a packed calendar of family events and a rigorous, literacy- and math-focused curriculum. 

In Pine Bluff, that’s enough to persuade many families to give it a try. The school now has a lengthy waiting list, and last year Friendship opened a second elementary school downtown.

Kimberly Davis, dean of the School of Education at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff , said the school is “really changing the outlook on education” in the city. “You look at Friendship, you go into the school, it’s like, ‘Am I still in Pine Bluff?’”

Observers like Davis say the new Friendship schools, while educating just a fraction of local students, have become the de facto alternative to the district as the only charter schools in town. And they’re helping to restore faith in a city that was once a highly educated, prosperous Black metropolis. 

Davis should know: Relocating here in June 2022, after a nine-year tenure as a professor of special education at Arkansas State University, she recalled, “People were like, ‘Why are you going to Pine Bluff?’ I said, ‘You don’t see what I see. I see potential. And where there is potential, that could be success.’”

‘Every kid here has a voice’

For parent Kazmira Davis (no relation to Kimberly), the moment she knew her kids belonged at the school was in 2018, when her daughter sat for skills tests as one of the school’s first kindergartners. She tested in the second- and third-grade levels in reading and math, respectively. Since then, Davis said, she’s always tested at least a year above grade level. “She hasn’t been stagnant since.”

Our kids have an environment where they feel like they matter. Every kid here has a voice.

Kazmira Davis, Pine Bluff parent

Nor have her two younger siblings, who are also testing above grade level.

“Our kids have an environment where they feel like they matter,” said Davis, who runs a tutoring and college counseling business. “Every kid here has a voice.”

The approach amounts to what she calls “Go mode,” a constant challenge to both students and teachers to push the limits of what’s possible.

Ten-year-old Kylie, Davis’s oldest at the school, is now a fifth-grader. She pointed out that she has earned straight A’s since kindergarten and has no plans to earn anything less than A’s going forward. “I like the teachers and I have a lot of friends there,” she said.  

She wants to go into clothing design and has already created two shirts for her family’s Christian-oriented clothing line. She said teachers focus a lot on helping students figure out what they need to be successful once they graduate. 

“Some days in school, they’ll ask you what you want to do when you grow up, and then we’ll have an essay that we have to write,” she said.

Rebecca Newby, one of the school’s academy directors — a job equivalent to an assistant principal — grew up in Pine Bluff and was educated in a district that was long ago swallowed up during one of many rounds of consolidations. In four years, she attended five high schools. She graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 2013, and taught for four years in the nearby district, remembering that the only times parents were invited on campus were for orientation and parent-teacher conferences, she said. “And those were required days.” 

At Friendship Aspire, parent nights are packed, she said. “You can’t even get down the street” because of all the cars parked along the school’s fence-lined street.

Perhaps most importantly, she and others said, students here, about 98% of whom are Black, are immersed — often for the first time — in teaching by well-trained Black instructors, which research shows can have many benefits. In March, researchers at the University of California and the University of North Carolina that Black boys, especially from low-income families, are less likely to be referred for special education when they have Black teachers. 

Many of Friendship Aspire’s teachers grew up here and were trained at the local branch of the University of Arkansas, an historically Black university. Overall, about 90% of Friendship Aspire staffers are Black.

“I do see it as a long-standing change agent that Pine Bluff has needed for a long time,” said Newby.  

‘An exporter of talent’

Many see Friendship Aspire and its sister schools as part of a long-term, perhaps even multi-generational, effort to restore Pine Bluff to its former glory as a haven for well-educated, prosperous families. 

But even as the school radiates a contagious, productive energy, it can hardly make up for the loss that so clearly lies at the heart of this community.

Each morning, Mary Ann Lee turns the key to her storefront cafe, Indigo Blue, on a quiet side street off Pine Bluff’s once prosperous Main Street. Originally a dress shop built in 1883, the renovated building now features Instagram-worthy high ceilings and stylish, comfortable seating that �ɴdzܱ����’t be out of place in a college-town cafe. Jazz plays on the stereo and historic civil rights memorabilia, lovingly collected over decades by Lee herself, cover virtually every wall. At the back of the room, an eclectic assortment of books, mostly from Lee’s personal collection, comprise what amounts to an ad-hoc used bookstore. 

But as cozy and inviting as Indigo Blue is, the shop looks out onto abandoned storefronts in nearly every direction. A cake shop opened next door a few years ago, and an engraver now operates on the other side of Lee’s cafe, but these few establishments, plus one or two nearby, amount to the largest concentration of functioning businesses for blocks.

It wasn’t always this way.

Just a century ago, the scholar and civil rights pioneer W.E.B. Dubois surveyed the city and found that Pine Bluff had the fourth largest concentration of Black wealth in America. In 1900, a city directory listed 235 Black businesses. 

In 1913, the 23-mile-long , the first concrete road in the South, opened here, reaching about halfway to Little Rock. Drivers would actually ship their cars in by rail to drive on the bump-free, high-tech road.

For generations, a passenger railway station greeted visitors in the center of downtown, as did the magnificent six-story neoclassical and a .

In the late 1950s, Lee, the cafe owner, recalled, “Pine Bluff used to be ‘the thing,’” a bustling little city with department stores, movie theaters, amusements, a horse racing track and an annual carnival. “You couldn’t even walk on the sidewalks, there’d be so many people,” she recalled.

The city now has exactly zero movie theaters. The streetcar, department stores and amusements are all long gone. Rail service ended in 1968 and the Pines closed in 1970.

After the loss of much of the domestic cotton industry, as well as decades of disinvestment from manufacturers and government, families moved away, abandoning not just businesses but homes. Block after block of crumbling buildings now haunt the quiet streets. The city’s population has never exceeded its 1970s census numbers. 

Lee, who attended city schools, remembered that teachers pushed her and other Black students to excel “because integration was coming and we needed to show that we could compete, and that we can learn just like any other kid.”

She left town in the late 1970s, and would go on to a long career promoting human rights and civil rights in Michigan, first with Detroit’s city government and later as a leader of the state NAACP. In that sense, she’s like a lot of Pine Bluff residents who took their good educations and got out.

Over the past century or more, the city has seen a diaspora of smart people leave and, in many cases, never return, said local historian Lori Walker Guelache. They included , co-founder of the National Urban League, and businessman , who founded Tulsa’s Greenwood district, otherwise known as “.”

“We’ve done a great job of cultivating talent historically, but we haven’t done a great job of creating pathways for them to come back,” she said. “And so I guess you can say we’ve been an exporter of talent.”

‘We found it’s a great city’

Those losses have eased somewhat in recent years, she and others said, with small upticks in population for most age brackets — except two: children, as well as adults aged 35 to 44. “So basically young families,” Walker Guelache said. 

That reality, among others, drew Friendship to the region. It now runs 11 schools statewide. Already the operator of half a dozen well-respected charter schools in Washington, D.C., it came here in 2018 at the invitation of the Bentonville-based Walton Family Foundation, which admired its work creating a pipeline of Black teachers — especially Black male teachers — in D.C., said Kim Davis, a senior advisor who leads Walton’s work in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta. 

“They’re really good at not only saying, ‘Hey, we think that there is a talented person at the beginning of their career, but we also have a development program for those individuals,’” he said. 

Davis also said Friendship’s willingness and ability to partner with the local University of Arkansas campus was critical to attracting more Black teachers to schools here. 

But the decision on where to invest was up to Friendship, said Phong Tran, its southern regional superintendent. “Pine Bluff has always been the city that no one wanted to touch,” he said. “But we found that it’s a great city.”

In many educators’ eyes, Friendship Aspire and the six other network schools — they include the new downtown elementary school and a new middle/high school — are leading the push to keep families here. Through its strategic takeovers and new openings, Friendship has quietly built a group of schools that nearly matches the number of remaining district schools, with plans to continue expanding.

A lot of what Friendship has done is to simply offer families a peek into what high-quality schools do, said Friendship Aspire Principal Jherrithan Dukes. Though not a Pine Bluff native, he attended college here at the University of Arkansas and worked at charter and traditional public schools in Little Rock before arriving in the fall of 2020.

Newby, the academic director, said Friendship’s policy to offer free before- and after-care from the beginning showed that it understood the community. “We have working parents that need the support,” she said. “And so we offer that free,” an anomaly in the city.

It doesn’t hurt that the Friendship schools offer nationally recognized curricula that are raising literacy and math skills in ways that other local schools have struggled to do, said Davis, the University of Arkansas dean.

In the most recent state achievement tests, no district-run school earned a grade ; just 19.4% of third-graders districtwide proved “ready” or exceeding standards in math and 15.4% in reading. 

At Friendship Aspire, a different trend is beginning to take shape: 75.9% of students scored “ready” or exceeding standards in math and 33.3% in reading, scores high enough to earn the school a respectable 70.7% rating, a solid C.

When Friendship expanded last year, one show of support was to build the new elementary school in the heart of downtown, partnering with the local public library, which was renovating its downtown building. 

“When you want to revitalize a city, what better place to build a school than downtown?” said Tran, the regional superintendent. “There are a lot of parents who come to work downtown. So where are they going to drop their kids?”

For Pine Bluff, that comes with fraught considerations. The city ranks as one of the least safe in the U.S., with more than a dozen teens killed since 2020. So when they designed the new school, architects included a large outdoor space surrounded on all four sides by classrooms to keep students from having to leave the school’s confines to play outside. 

Kay’Leah King, 12, a sixth-grader at Friendship STEM Academy, said she thinks a lot about safety, and worries about school shootings, which are often on the news. She’s glad the school, like Friendship Aspire Academy, which she also attended, keeps its doors locked all day. “On every door that’s on the outside and in the office, you have to have a key code to get in,” she said. “And you can’t get in without it. You can’t get in through those doors without being let in.” 

Best in the state

Dukes said many of his students’ parents vividly remember the substandard education they got in Pine Bluff just a few years ago — and don’t want a repeat experience with their kids. 

As a result, they fiercely support the school, organizing events such as the annual “Trunk or Treat,” a Halloween tradition in which they park cars outside the school and essentially recreate house-to-house trick-or-treating for students who may not be able to do it otherwise. Several parents said the city’s violent crime rate makes them think twice about letting their kids go house-to-house each October.

The school is tidy and orderly. On a recent morning, Dukes patrolled the halls, reminding students to cross their arms in front of them as they pass between classrooms to keep their hands to themselves.

Davis, the Arkansas dean, said her students, teachers in training, push to work at Friendship Aspire and the other network schools, lured by their energy. In a sense, she said, salaries have become less important due to a that raised public school teachers’ minimum salaries from $36,000 to at least $50,000. That puts the burden on schools to support teachers in other ways. 

People were like, 'Why are you going to Pine Bluff?' I said, 'You don't see what I see. I see potential.

Kimberly Davis, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Last fall, Friendship brought in the D.C. coaching firm , which provides literacy coaches to work with small groups of students. The Arkansas Public Schools Resource Center also provides tutors and helps teachers pace lessons. And the school partnered with the Detroit-based Center for Strategic Leadership, which helps teachers improve math instruction and provides retention bonuses for those who stick around. 

More importantly, Friendship is offering what many here never got during their K-12 schooling: a plethora of well-trained Black educators. 

Countless adults here can recount the experience of attending school with mostly Black classmates but mostly white teachers. “Growing up, the majority of my teachers did not look like me,” said Friendship Aspire Academy Director Brianna Reynolds, who began here as a kindergarten teacher in 2018. 

Growing up, the majority of my teachers did not look like me.

Brianna Reynolds, Friendship Aspire Academy Director

In many years, she said, her only Black teacher was her home economics teacher.

From kindergarten on up, Dukes and others said, Friendship principals prioritize hiring Black teachers. At the new Friendship high school, they comprise half of Principal Anitra Rogers’ staff. She recounted literally praying to God to provide the campus with the teachers it needed, “preferably with Black men.”

The result is a small but growing set of schools that are quietly changing people’s minds about the city, said Reynolds one recent morning. “It changes the narrative.” 

As if to underscore the change, that morning as he chatted with Reynolds and other staffers in his office, Dukes received a flat cardboard parcel in the day’s mail. He sliced it open to reveal a gleaming glass plaque: Friendship Aspire had been named a U.S. News & World Report “.” The magazine, which ranks schools and colleges nationwide, named Friendship Aspire the 28th-best elementary school in Arkansas and its No. 1 charter elementary school.

As he scanned the plaque, colleagues cheered. Dukes beamed, saying repeatedly, “There it is. There it is.” He held it up to pose for photos. “There it is.”

‘We’re raising a great generation of students’

Meanwhile, in downtown Pine Bluff, small signs of life are beginning to peek through. A new aquatic center, proposed in 2011, finally opened in 2019. The historic hotel’s owner to a nonprofit named Pine Bluff Rising, which plans to revitalize it.

And Lee, the cafe owner, is now thinking about renovating the second story of her building to create a loft apartment for her retirement. Forever busy scheduling speakers at the cafe and working with other building owners on downtown preservation projects, she’s excited about the new possibilities. 

Each morning, she looks out her renovated storefront windows and across West Barraque Street onto a block of three abandoned, brick-wrapped buildings. Their owner says he’s finally ready to renovate them, with plans for an ice cream shop, loft apartments and a martini bar.

But all of these efforts, locals said, need families to stick around.

Friendship continues to explore new schools and new takeovers, even as the State Board of Education last fall to return full local control of Pine Bluff schools to the district. State officials will continue monitoring the district’s academic and fiscal performance for another year.

For his part, Dukes, the elementary school principal, is cautiously optimistic — and patient. He believes real change in the city may take years.

“I feel like once these kids get older and get grown and come back to this community, we’re going to see a real take-off in the city,” he said. He’s not actually sure he’ll be around to see it, but he’s convinced a rebirth is at hand. “I feel like we’re raising a great generation of students.”

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to ����Ӱ��. The foundation also provided early financial support to the Friendship Education Foundation to set up a charter network in Pine Bluff.

]]> /article/national-poll-finds-overwhelming-support-among-black-teachers-parents-for-esas/ Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:00:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=704259 As parents become increasingly frustrated over pandemic learning loss, their desire for education savings accounts, or ESAs, has boomed — gaining overwhelming support from not only Black parents but also Black teachers, according to a new poll by . 

The poll released by gathered respondents’ views on ESAs, a program giving families access to state education funds to pay for approved services, such as private school tuition, instructional materials and tutoring.

From the 634 parents interviewed, 59.7% support ESAs, with 14.6% opposed and 25.7% undecided.

Similar splits were seen among parents along party lines, with 67.5% of Democrats, 61.3% of Republicans and 55.3% of Independents in favor of ESAs.

But ESAs are certainly controversial, with supporters, often Republicans, backing the program’s boon for family empowerment; and opponents, often Democrats, arguing how the program undermines public education.

“The momentum we are seeing, not just with the public but with parents, educators and those who are in some way touching education in America right now is very much inspiring,” said Erica Jedynak, chief operating officer of

According to the YouGov poll, support for ESAs is decisive among Black parents, with 70.3% in favor of the program. By comparison, 59.1% of white parents and 50.8% of Hispanic parents support ESAs.

The pattern is similar among teachers: From the 313 teachers interviewed, 58.8% support ESAs in contrast to 14.7% that oppose and 26.5% that are undecided.

Among Black teachers, however, 78.9% favor ESAs. By comparison, 56.2% of white teachers and 60.7% of Hispanic teachers favor the program.

ESAs also have broad support from teachers across the political spectrum, with 58.2% of Democrats, 63.8% of Republicans and 54% of Independents in favor.

Sadira Davis, a Black parent in Phoenix, Arizona, said that this comes to no surprise because public schools in Black communities are often considered incapable of providing a quality education.

“My daughter Eden was diagnosed with autism at four…and when I transferred her to a public school kindergarten it was honestly devastating,” Davis told ����Ӱ��.

Davis said the staff at her public school were ill-equipped to manage students with special needs. In one particularly painful memory, Davis recalled her daughter was tied down as she rode the school bus.

“It was a traumatizing experience…they had her harnessed and she had this face that looked like an animal chained to the bus,” Davis said. “At that point I needed something different for my kid.”

Davis’ daughter is now a 6th grade student at AZ Aspire Academy, a special education school, which Davis enrolled her by using funds from Arizona’s ESA program, the .

Black children are often the ones who “fall through the cracks in public school systems,” said Tiffany Dudley, a former charter elementary school teacher in Phoenix, Arizona.

As the student development coach for , Dudley said that ESAs give Black parents the choice to have their child taught by teachers who have “walked a mile in their shoes.”

“Parents can’t necessarily demand their teacher give directions to their child in a different way,  but they do have the choice to take them to another school that will better serve them,” Dudley said.

Janelle Wood, founder and chief executive officer of , is shocked by the overwhelming support among Black teachers for ESAs, as they are often perceived as devoted supporters of public schools.

“I always scratch my head because oftentimes they’re the ones that get overlooked for promotions and retaliated against when they speak up on some of the injustices they see,” Wood told ����Ӱ��.

ESAs offer Black teachers the opportunity to work in settings they may have never been exposed to, such as private schools, microschools and learning pods.

“Many of our educators feel limited in what they can teach and how they can go about administering the different educational models they learned when they went to school,” Wood said. “This gives them that flexibility and freedom, so I’m really pleased to hear their support.”

Disclosure: Yes. Every Kid. operates as part of the wider Stand Together Trust network. Stand Together Trust provides financial support to ����Ӱ��.

]]> /article/we-need-black-teachers-and-the-breakout-hit-sitcom-abbott-elementary-shows-us-why/ Wed, 23 Feb 2022 22:01:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=585420 At a critical time when the U.S. education sector is facing high teacher attrition rates fueled by the pandemic and a stream of legislative restrictions around classroom content and teaching methods, the new and much-loved Abbott Elementary tells a more nuanced story of how a group of passionate, tenacious educators navigate their school system to improve student outcomes.��

This heartwarming show takes a comedic, mockumentary approach in tackling some of the most pressing issues around urban education: inadequate school funding, teacher turnover and the misappropriation of school funds. However, one other major theme also stands out for me: the positive impact of Black educators.

---

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for ����Ӱ�� Newsletter

---

Part of what makes ABC’s refreshing and unique is the fact that this majority-Black school is comprised of a mostly Black staff. From the school leader to the janitor, the default in this West Philadelphia school community is Blackness. But, this narrative is far from the norm for many of our nation’s students as they navigate their 13- year public school experience. In fact, the reality is that while Black students make up 15 percent of the nation’s public education system, only 7 percent of our educator workforce identifies as Black. At just under 2 percent, the share of Black male educators is even more disheartening.��

indicates that the presence of Black teachers in the classroom is directly linked to improved student outcomes for all students, especially Black students. For example, having at least one Black teacher early on reduces a Black student’s likelihood of dropping out of school by up to 39 percent. Additionally, when Black students have access to two Black elementary school teachers, they are 32 percent more likely to go to college.��

Principal Coleman, Ms. Teagues, Mrs. Howard and Mr. Eddie demonstrate the importance of ensuring that all kids have access to educators that not only reflect their cultural background, but also share common sociopolitical interests with their students.��

Abbott Elementary exists because a sixth grader grew up and never forgot how seen she felt by her teacher. Let that sink in.

— Beandrea July (@beandreadotcom)

One of the series’s most memorable moments is when Quinta Brunson’s character, the ever-hopeful second grade teacher Janine Teagues, pays homage to the community she and her students grew up in by teaching a lesson on the use of Philly slang — from “jawn” [basically a substitute noun for any people, place or thing] to “oldhead,” [someone older or whose generation came before].��

It’s no wonder that the Philadelphia City Council recently to celebrate the show for spotlighting the many joys and challenges of working as an educator in Philadelphia’s school system.

While the teaching profession has been neglected for so long, this feel-good show beautifully highlights the profound impact teachers, specifically Black teachers, have on their students and their communities. My time spent in the classrooms of Gates Elementary in San Antonio, Texas illuminated some of the same support and tension that the teachers in Abbott Elementary grapple with. Starting a school garden with one of my co-workers, disregarding my own self-care on some days, and being mentored by one of the amazing veteran teachers on campus are just a few of the many shared experiences. I saw a lot of myself in this show, which was both triggering and affirming if I must confess.

As the wise kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard, played by Sheryl Lee Ralph, tells her colleagues: “Teachers at a school like Abbott, we have to be able to do it all. We are admin, we are social workers, we are therapists, we are second parents. Hell, sometimes we are even first. Why? Cuz it sure ain’t the money. … Want to know my secret? Do everything you can for your kids.”

Abbott Elementary is truly the gift that keeps on giving and I hope that we can continue to give Brunson, the show’s creator, producer and star, her flowers for uplifting the narrative around the profound and long-lasting impact that Black educators have on their students. Black teachers, like Brunson’s mother or the namesake of the show, her sixth grade teacher Ms. Abbott, went to great lengths to meet their students where they’re at, while challenging them to reach their highest potential. That’s why we need more of them.��

Jimmy surprises @QuintaBrunson with the 6th grade teacher she named after!

— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive)

At the Center for Black Educator Development, we’re partnering with local and national organizations to create a movement around education as a form of activism through the launch of our national campaign. The goal is to raise awareness around the shortage of Black teachers, with hopes of inspiring a new generation of leaders to answer the call to become a changemaker in the classroom. Learn more about the campaign .��

During their reunion on , Joyce Abbott recalled her former student, the gifts she brought to class and those she needed a little help in realizing.

“Quinta was an awesome student. When she came into my class, she was really shy, timid. But as I challenged all of my students — we had to speak in complete sentences — I built their confidence that whatever you want in life, you can do it.”

What a special thing it is for Black educators to challenge their students academically, while simultaneously making them feel seen and encouraging them to pursue their dreams. Ms. Abbott, Ms. Teagues, Mrs. Howard and Mr. Eddie all prove to us that Black teachers do more than just provide a strong education — they empower their students.��

Mimi Woldeyohannes is director of strategic partnerships at the Center for Black Educator Development. She is the former special projects and community manager at ����Ӱ��.

]]>