Thirty years ago, "Problems, process, and promise: Reflections on a collaborative approach to the solution of the minority teacher shortage" (Goodwin, 1991) offered a perspective on an approach to the "minority" teacher shortage. That piece represented the start of the author's life-long work on teacher preparation, with a…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore teacher recruitment and retention practices for Black educators in rural counties in Southeastern North Carolina. The theories that guided this study are John Ogbu's cultural-ecological theory of minority school performance, and Richard Valencia's deficit thinking theory. The research…

Only two percent of teachers in the United States are African American males (Wallace & Gagen, 2019). If this trend continues, the vast majority of students in America will never encounter an African American male teacher (Burns Thomas, 2020). The purpose of this research study was to explore the motivations and obstacles that African American…

The academic achievement of Black boys in the U.S. has been declining, and Black male mentorship can positively change these outcomes. Schools have tried many interventions to help Black boys receive the academic, social, and emotional support they need to close the performance gap. Some case studies have proven that Black male mentorship works.…

Racially and ethnically minoritized students are now the majority in U.S. public schools. This demographic change, along with heightened attention to racial injustice and evidence regarding the importance of Black teachers, has renewed a decades-old push to increase their numbers. Redesigning teacher education and development to support the…

There are very few Black male educators who work in the elementary setting. In fact, most Americans will never experience having a Black male as a teacher during those formative years. Existing research around Black male educators heavily revolves around why Black men do not become educators, but there is little research on the motivations for why…

The recruitment and retention of Black male teachers continue to be a national effort. While there is a plethora of research on attempts to solve this critical issue of teacher diversity, Black males continue to represent the lowest percentage of teachers within the profession. This study narrows the research on Black male teachers by adding the…

This critical qualitative research study examines how Black tenure-track faculty at predominantly White Research 1 (PWR1) institutions describe and enact their personal and professional commitments while navigating their institutions priorities and reward structure. Using a purposive and snowball sampling methodological approach, I interviewed 17…

This qualitative study utilized one-on-one interviews to examine the lived experience of Black males who have successfully joined the teaching profession and moved into school administration. Their experiences shed light on factors that help attract African American males to the profession and continue to be educators. This study's research is…

From 2005 to 2015, the number of Black teachers in Michigan dropped by 48%, substantially exceeding declines in the corresponding K-12 Black student population. These teacher losses are an acute phenomenon within a broader national context of deurbanization of K-12 student populations away from those districts with the largest and most established…

This study aimed to widen the understanding of the need for Black males in public schools, the critical factors related to their underrepresentation, and the reasons they stay in the teaching profession. The study explored what attracts Black male teachers to the teaching profession, what keeps them in the profession, what strategies can be…

The purpose of this qualitative explanatory case study is to explain the underrepresentation of African American male teachers in public school education in the state of Arkansas through the lens of the teacher diversity gap and organizational commitment. Participants included 10 African American male teachers who taught in grades K-12 in public…

Although institutions of higher education have set goals to increase faculty diversity, researchers note the continued challenge for faculty of color, specifically Black females. While there is a significant amount of literature on the lived experiences of Black women faculty at predominantly White institutions (PWIs), there has been little…

Academic leaders in higher education come by and large from majority white faculty. This article describes the development of a consortium-based faculty leadership program intentionally designed for Black and Latino faculty, the specific ways the program components addressed issues of race in the context of leadership, and the recruitment…

Addressing teacher shortages is essential to ensure all students have qualified educators who can guide their learning. This Spotlight will help readers learn what teachers say makes their jobs more difficult; review data measuring trends in teachers' job satisfaction; explore strategies for effective special education staffing; discover what…