‘Change the landscape’
Education leaders, advocates tackle ways to bolster number of Black educators in Allegheny County
Leaders from across the region need to elevate the voices of Black teachers as the number of educators of color in Allegheny County continues to decline, a panel of local experts and officials from Research for Action said during a Tuesday discussion on teacher diversity.
The “Wisdom to Action: Learning from Black Educators to Diversify Allegheny County’s Teacher Workforce” event at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in Downtown brought together policy makers, education leaders, teachers and community members to discuss the experiences of Black teachers from across Allegheny County. The event, which came as the number of teachers of color in the county and across the state continues to decline, also offered insights and strategies for reversing that trend.
“This demands our attention,” Clairton School District Superintendent Tamara Allen-Thomas said. “Allow me to share some sobering statistics: While students of color make up nearly 40% of our country’s population, only 3.4% are Black teachers. This imbalance not only fails to mirror the rich tapestry of our community, but it also deprives our students of invaluable role models and mentors who understand their unique experiences and cultural backgrounds. Now more than ever, we must heed to a call to action and commit ourselves to diversifying Allegheny County’s teacher workforce.”
The goal of the event was to jump-start discussions and initiatives to help bolster the number of Black educators entering the profession while working to retain them in those roles. It stemmed from a November report from Research for Action, a nonprofit education research organization, which details the experiences of Black teachers in Allegheny County while digging into why Black teachers are leaving the profession.
In all, Allegheny County saw the number of Black teachers drop by 10% in the past decade, according to Research for Action and the Allegheny County Education Research. That means that during the 2022-23 school year, teachers of color represented 4.6% of almost 10,700 total teachers at public schools across the county. That’s compared to children of color who accounted for almost 38% of public school students.
And those numbers mirror what’s happening on the state level. Between the 201617 and 2019-20 school years, only 5.6% of teachers were people of color compared to 33.1% of students of color, according to a report from Ed Fuller, an associate professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Penn State’s College of Education. And almost 55% of Pennsylvania schools and more than one- third of school districts employed no teachers of color during the 2016-17 school year, the report found.
The disparities between students and teachers of color also comes as the state grapples with an ongoing teacher shortage. Around 7.7% of Pennsylvania teachers, or a total of 9,587, left their positions between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, Mr. Fuller found. And there are fewer new teachers to replace them. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, more than 15,000 in-state certifications were issued during the 2010-11 school year; by 202122, that number had dropped to about 4,200.
But for Black teachers specifically, challenges such as racial microaggressions, unjust treatment, heavier workloads and racism toward students compound with issues facing all teachers including lack of administrative support and instability due to staffing policies, often leading to high levels of burnout.
Officials are now working to reverse those trends.
A panel of local educators — including Jason Rivers, the director of narrative transformation, conflict resolution and violence prevention at Pittsburgh Public Schools; Dawn Gordon, principal at Pittsburgh Public’s King PreK-8; Wayne Jones, CEO of the Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship; and Danielle Smiley, a teacher at Propel Schools — discussed ways to remove barriers for Black teachers or those pursuing a career in education.
The panel, which was moderated by Kathy Wilson Humphrey, the first Black president of Carlow University, built on several recommendations featured in the Research for Action report, such as designing pipeline programs for students who have an interest in teaching; ensuring that school funding is adequately and equitably distributed to all schools; participating in continuous education and training; developing and implementing systemic and infrastructural improvements and supports; establishing mentorship programs; and creating affinity spaces where Black teachers can connect with other Black educators, among others.
For Ms. Gordon, the teacher certification process is one barrier facing Black students trying to enter the profession.
“We just allow people who go through a whole process of practical learning, of student teaching, of hands-on learning, now we are sitting you in front of this biased test to say whether or not you are retaining this,” Ms. Gordon said. “We already know that’s not where it is. It’s boots on the ground. It’s boots on the ground, putting you in the classrooms in front of students.”
She added that Black teachers often take on several roles in the classroom, including educator, principal, mom, “whatever you need to get through the day.”
Other barriers, Mr. Jones said, come from funding and not being able to provide teachers with competitive salaries. Ms. Smiley added that there also need to be more opportunities for people to get into the classroom to shadow educators and to teach a class to see if it’s something they want to pursue in the future.
“It’s imperative to recognize that this narrative can be reshaped if we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to equity and inclusivity within the K-12 education system,” Alexis Walker, the educator coordinator for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office, said. “Every student irrespective of their backgrounds deserves access to exemplary educators. By fostering an environment where teachers of color feel valued and supported we can actualize our vision of vibrant schools and communities.”
This is the second time Research for Action has hosted a teach-in focused on diversifying the teacher workforce. A previous event two years ago in Philadelphia resulted in several advocacy organizations banding together to try to reverse the trend of Black teachers leaving the profession, Research for Action Executive Director Kate Callahan said.
Now, she’s hoping similar action will come from the Pittsburgh event, something local organizations are already gearing up for.
“For me it’s acknowledging it’s an issue. It’s been an issue for 20-plus years,” TyiSanna Jones of the MindWorks Collaborative, said. “I’ve been doing this kind of work for 20 years, and it’s like so we’re having this conversation. Let’s keep having it, let’s have organizations like United Way who have access to other funding, how can they better support the school system and how can they better support the people who are in the school system? The children as well as the educators. We came into the field on purpose. We came into the field to make a difference.”
Ana Kay Yaghoubian, director of building for success in school and life for the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, agreed.
“[Realizing] the importance of Black educators isn’t just a number, but it’s real stories and real kids and real people that need to see themselves reflected in conversations like this that happen in a public space,” Ms. Yaghoubian said.
And for many Black teachers still in the education space, their commitment boils down to passion.
“The kids,” Ms. Smiley said about why she stays. “I mean that’s why. You build these relationships, they become your kids. They’re your children. I wouldn’t leave my biological kids. I can’t leave them.”
For Mr. Jones, his commitment means increasing representation.
“The more of us that come out and take on the challenges of being an educator, although we know it’s not probably at times going to pay the bills, know that in the long term the result is going to be more empowered young people and individuals who believe in themselves,” Mr. Jones said. “That’s how we change the landscape.”