Apr 8, 2021

Expansion of Racially Diverse Staff Should be Part of the Learning Recovery Plan

Carol Keirstead
R7CC supporting Mississippi Equitable Access to Effective Educators ; National Comprehensive Center Capacity Building Team
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As a single white mom to a twelve-year-old Black son, I am faced with reality that my son has had no exposure to Black teachers in his nine years of public schooling despite living in a diverse, mid-sized urban city. This means that he has been deprived of having important interactions and influences in his school life that could have had long lasting positive impacts on his sense of self and his academic progress. 

Given our troubled history and present state, it is hard to deny the fact that race matters in this country. As many would argue, we are facing a reckoning in terms of how we handle this fact as a nation and as communities moving forward.  As educators and those whose role is to ensure that underserved children and youth in our public schools are provided with the education necessary to achieve to their potential, we have an obligation to face head on the fact that race does matter in our classrooms and schools – and particularly for Black and Latin-x students’ short and long-term educational outcomes.  

Hear how and why race matters in presentations to state education leaders from three researchers and authors of the Feb 2021 book Teacher Diversity and Student Success. The authors make a compelling case for teacher diversity as a necessary component of teacher quality if we are to change the trajectory of school success for Black and Latinx students and improve the overall ability of all students to succeed in global economies and diverse communities.

As schools and districts plan for return to school and the future of teaching and learning, leaders can make a difference by giving their students the racial and cultural resources needed to be seen, to learn, and to thrive.

Hear from three prominent researchers and authors of the of the Feb 2021 book Teacher Diversity and Student Success who shared their findings and recommendations for increasing student access to teachers of color with state education leaders.