‘I Was Happy to See a Teacher that Looked Like Me’

College of Education Researchers and Collaborators Envision Ways to Cultivate and Retain a Diverse Educator Workforce
Transforming Education Systems through Teacher Diversity convening

As she neared the end of her teaching internship last year, then-high school senior Teresa Togbe asked her first-grade students about their first impressions of her.

“One student of color said, ‘When I saw you, I was happy to see a teacher that looked like me,’” said Togbe, who graduated from a teacher pathway program at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland. “That really made me smile. When students see themselves represented in the classroom, they’re more motivated to learn and engage.” 

Togbe is one member of a diverse coalition of collaborators who worked with 91 College of Education researchers to imagine ways to cultivate and retain a more racially diverse educator workforce in Maryland and nationwide. The yearlong project was funded by a $74,993 Vision Grant from the Spencer Foundation.

“We know from personal stories of individuals of color, but also from qualitative and quantitative evidence, that teachers of color have a positive impact on the outcomes of students who look like them, as well as on all students. This includes increased self-efficacy and classroom engagement,” said David Blazar, associate professor of education policy at the College of Education and principal investigator of Transforming Education Systems through Teacher Diversity.

Yet the educator workforce does not reflect the diversity of the nation. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 80% of U.S. K-12 public school teachers identify as white, compared with 46% of U.S. K-12 public school students. 

“Through this project, we’re thinking about strategies and approaches for moving the needle on students’ likelihood of pursuing teaching as a profession, specifically for youth of color. Our larger vision is grounded in the idea of schools as spaces where teachers and students of color feel included, valued, empowered and whole, and policies and practices reflect their desires and dreams,” said Meghan Comstock, assistant professor of education policy, who serves as a co-principal investigator along with Ebony Terrell Shockley Ph.D. ’12, associate dean for educator preparation and undergraduate studies and clinical professor, and Keisha Allen, assistant professor of teacher education and professional development.

In February, project leaders hosted “freedom dreaming sessions” in which families, students and teachers of color imagined the kinds of environments in PK-12 that would encourage students of color to return to classrooms as teachers and would help retain teachers of color.

Soon afterward, researchers convened a diverse group of 100 individuals from across the state, including students, teachers, administrators, district-level leaders, university-based teacher educators and researchers, and representatives from community organizations and state education agencies. 91 one-third of the participants were high school students, primarily those enrolled in teacher pathway programs such as the Teacher Academy of Maryland (TAM) and Educators Rising.

“The students’ desires and experiences became the center of what we were collectively envisioning,” said Allen.

From discussions at the convening, the project leaders and collaborators identified three key barriers to youth of color entering the teacher workforce: prestige, pedagogies and pay. They continued to meet in working groups after the convening to discuss strategies for addressing these barriers. These may involve developing youth-led social media campaigns to reclaim narratives about the prestige of teaching profession; re-envisioning the pedagogies of high school teacher pathway programs to reflect more closely the interests and experiences of youth of color; and making financial resources, such as stipends for students pursuing teacher internships, more accessible to youth of color. 91 is also exploring becoming a TAM partner, so that students who participate in TAM could transfer their credits to the university. 

As the team pursues next steps to develop and study strategies to improve teacher diversity, recruitment, preparation and retention, they will continue to center the voices of youth and communities of color. 

“Respecting the voice and agency of individuals that are often left out of the conversation really makes this project novel,” said Terrell Shockley.

Partners on the project represent Baltimore City Public Schools; CASA; Charles County Public Schools; Frederick County Public Schools; Harford County Public Schools; Loam; Maryland Alliance for Racial Equity in Education; Montgomery County Public Schools; Prince George’s County Public Schools; Stevenson University; Strong Schools Maryland; Towson University; 91, Baltimore County; University System of Maryland; and We Will All Rise, Inc.