Black English Teachers and Student Achievement in the Post-Civil Rights Era

• In Event: Counternarratives: Voices From New Scholars of Color

Abstract

Purpose
The goal of this paper is to deepen the scholarly and practical conversations about African American English teachers’ roles in impacting black student achievement by adding the authentic, uninhibited voice of the Black English teacher to the existing black teacher and English education literature. Studies of black teachers in the post-Civil Rights Era indicate that teachers have recognized the class gulf that exists between them and their black students, but have been reluctant to discuss publicly (Fordham, 1996). Further, black teachers have failed to consider their teaching practices as a possible culprit in the problem of black student underachievement (Lynn et al, 2010); they have also displayed resistance to talking about race (Harper Lee, 2002), and articulated problems they saw with class and color-consciousness among blacks (Foster, 1997). The portraits created in this paper and the insights they generate may lead to new ways of thinking about what it means to impact black student achievement as a black teacher in today’s post-Brown era.
Framework
Critical Race Theory (CRT) undergirds this study. The element of CRT that most strongly encourages race reflection amongst teachers is its emphasis on the lived experiences of teachers of color. This aspect is based on the belief that reality is socially constructed (Banks, 1995) and that “the voices of people of color are required for a complete analysis of the education system (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995, p. 58). Furthermore, the late Asia Hilliard’s (2003) Gap Closers criteria is also utilized in approaching how Black English teachers view their relationship to black student achievement.
Methodology
Portraiture, which combines science and art, allows for the boundary crossing and blurring (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) that a culturally-specific research approach calls for, one that emphasizes historically-situated realities possible in an interpretivist paradigm (Crotty, 1998). Portraiture also facilitates a transformative, research process (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997), which is in line with Tillman’s (2002/2006) framework for culturally sensitive research approaches to studying African Americans.
Data
The teachers are the metaphorical research site. The portraits I create will be from their perspectives and will reflect any local, historical, or situational contexts that I or the participants believe inform or influence their thinking. We all have taught or are currently teaching in the same school district, a large, urban district in the mid-Atlantic U.S. Five female African American English teachers, including one from an earlier pilot study, have been recruited to participate in a month-long 12-hour weekly focus group. The focus group questions are based upon questionnaires submitted earlier to participants in addition to individual interviews, analysis of writing journals, and reflexive writing tasks.
Scholarly Significance and Tentative Results
In an era when many schools have re-segregated to pre-Brown v. Board levels, the questions surrounding Black student achievement and Black teachers demands deeper inquiry. Portraiture, as proposed in this paper, will contribute a level of depth unavailable in statistically driven portraits of achievement gap data.

Author

• Summer Carrol, University of Maryland - College Park