William: In our series on higher
education, we have looked at why
it is crucial to buildout and
diversify the teaching pipeline.
Tonight, we focus on why
developing and recruiting more
black teachers is especially
important for black students.
To make sure they continue their
education and finish their
degrees.
Geoff Bennett has the story for
our series "Rethinking college.
."
>> Ok, if you are in group six
you are coming to me now.
Jeff pop -- geoff: Time for
reading lessons in lead Datt's
2nd grade class at mastery prep
elementary in north
Philadelphia.
>> Remember, read to comprehend.
>> It's a common scene in
classrooms across America except
for one key difference, the
teacher.
>> Nationally there are less
than 2% of all public school
teachers are black men.
Geoff: Sharif el-mekki is the
CEO of the center for black
educator development.
He says teachers like Lee datts
are all too rare.
>> Even in places like
Philadelphia that is extremely
diverse and about half of the
student population are black.
It hovers between 4% or 5% every
year.
Geoff: And yet, studies show for
young black students, having a
teacher who looks like them has
huge long-term benefits.
>> Students in kindergarten and
first grade, if they experience
at least one black teacher, they
are less likely to drop out of
high school and more likely to
enroll in college.
Geoff: Constance Lindsay is an
assistant professor at the unc
school of education whose
research focuses on educational
equity.
What in your research has
surprised you the most?
>> I think the outsize impact on
black boys.
Across several of our studies,
we find that many times the
results are driven by
persistently low income young
black boys. So it's really
important for them.
Geoff: So the stakes are highest
in these classrooms where most
students are black, and also
come from economically
disadvantaged families.
Especially for the boys.
>> 39% less likely to drop out
of high school and up to 29%
more likely to go to college if
they have a single black
teacher.
Why isn't this the intervention
that we're leading with?
What are you doing this summer?
Geoff: Sharif el-mekki, a former
principal and teacher himself,
is on a mission.
>> You can go to
weneedblackteachers.com and just
see, we would love to have you.
It's a paid apprenticeship, it's
a job.
Geoff: El-mekki's center for
black educator development is
building a black teacher
pipeline.
One component, paid
apprenticeships at freedom
schools literacy academy, where
high school and college students
get hands-on teaching
experience.
>> Don't go to McDonald's and
Starbucks.
Come work here if you are
interested in becoming a
teacher.
This summer, we'll have almost
200 black and brown teacher
apprentices working and leading
hundreds of first, second and
third graders.
>> At first, I really didn't
like kids.
Geoff: Teaching was not an
obvious career path for high
school junior Joshua Mcqueen.
>> I used to be scared of them
actually.
It was like because they made me
so nervous because they have so
much energy and stuff like that
.
Geoff: But when Mcqueen
apprenticed last summer, he says
one student gave him a new
perspective.
>> Say if we went out to recess,
I'd be playing tag with them and
basketball with all of them, he
would be the one that was like
constantly playing just because
I was playing.
It made me like realize the
impact that I can have on a kids
life.
>> How can you even picture
yourself in the shoes of
excellence when you don't see
yourself?
Geoff: Mcqueen is now taking a
course his high school offers on
the history and culture of black
teachers.
>> Often when teachers are being
prepared to teach, everything is
centered in a white historical
lens.
80% of our public school
teachers are white.
And then they're sent into
predominantly black and brown
classrooms.
Two claps on 3, 1, 2, 3.
Geoff: Imere Williams is an
education major at west Chester
university.
>> I've always wanted to be a
teacher since I was five years
old.
I've love school my entire life.
I look at it as a calling.
I want your sentences to convey
what that word means. So saying
--
geoff: Twice a week Williams
student teaches 5th graders at
James Rhoads school in the west
Philadelphia neighborhood where
he grew up.
>> I think that a lot of times
people have misconceptions of
west Philadelphia students that
they won't amount to much, they
can't learn.
I grew up in this neighborhood
and I'm in college.
I wanted to sort of just come
back and prove that like
students that come from urban
schools can go on and do
amazing, great things.
Who was described as obedient in
the book?
Geoff: Williams receives
scholarship money through the
black teacher pipeline to
support his education.
Once he gets to five years of
teaching, he will get a
retention bonus.
What kind of impact do you think
you have on your students?
>> I think they see me and look
like -- and look at someone like
them in a professional position,
they see that like, I can do
that one day.
Actually, one of my students,
said like, I want to be like
you, Mr. Williams one day. And
that sort of just like, first of
all, melted my heart, but also
sort of gave like even more fire
to do this work, especially in a
crash -- a profession where so
many doubts come with it.
Not a lot of pay, a lot of
stress, a lot of duties, but
things like that, sort of like
real you backend.
Geoff: Constance Lindsay says
educators like Williams are
influential role models.
>> Seeing a college educated
black person might sort of put a
spark in you to attend college
later on.
Geoff: Lindsay cites another
reason black instructors can be
so impactful.
>> My colleagues actually have a
study where they show that black
teachers on average expect black
students to go farther.
Geoff: That's the case with
second grade teacher Trent
petty.
>> I always tell my kids, you
know, you can be the one taking
care of me in 10 years.
You can be my doctor, my lawyer,
my mayor or my president
>> The expectations are high
because I believe in you.
Geoff: Lee datts acknowledges
his students tell him he is a
lot because he expects so much
from them.
>> I always tell them, I'm
looking for you to be an ivy
league student.
Because it's easy to just give
up on a child.
It really is.
It is a natural thing to have a
day where they're off task and
they're doing this, they're
doing that, and they're black
and brown.
Or you can believe in them and
believe in their dream and hope
and desire and hold on to that.
Geoff: Datts feels an obligation
to teach his students about
their shared history and
culture.
>> In our classroom, anybody who
we learn about that's African
American, I really try to make
it vocal to understand the
importance of what they had to
go through.
Like understanding your
background, understanding your
history.
Geoff: I imagine all teachers
feel a sense of responsibility.
I would also imagine that you
feel that even more, given that
you are a black man in a school,
predominantly black school.
>> My natural responsibility is
just to show what a black and
brown teacher looks like.
Like if you never have another
one, you know, you had one.