The Role of Organizational Factors in the Retention and Attrition of Male Teachers of Color

• In Event: Roundtable Session 124
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Retention in New York City Middle Schools: The Research Alliance for the New York City Schools’ Three-Year Study (2009-2012)

Abstract

Objectives

While there is a growing body of research that explores the organizational factors that influence teacher retention within urban schools (Johnson, 2005; Ingersoll, 2001), there is little literature on how school structures impact retention among male teachers of color. Such an exploration is crucial, given the campaign to increase the number of male teachers of color undertaken by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, national policy makers, and state and local officials (Graham, 2011).

Theoretical Framework

Secretary Duncan notes, “Less than three percent of the nation’s teachers are persons of color during a time when black children need black teachers as mentors and role models” (Seymour, 2011). One argument for increasing the number of male teachers is the belief that they have the potential to act as role models for economically and socially disenfranchised boys of color (Holland, 1991; Rezai-Reshti & Martino, 2010). That argument and this paper draw on the theory of social distance. Parks (1924) describes how the population shift away from towns and to the metropolis brought varying ethnic groups within close proximity of each other. These groups, even when living and working near each other, which was most often the case, began to recognize that they were, indelibly, different from each other. Such recognition of differences evolved into prejudicial attitudes by the majority Whites and the ways they interacted with “others.” More recent applications of social distance investigate the perceptions of White teachers on working-class Black students (Diamond & Spillane, 2004; Hyland, 2009).

Methods and Data Sources

This paper draws on interview and observation data from a specific sub-set of teachers at the case study schools: eleven male teachers of color.

Results

Teachers believe themselves to be role models – particularly to their male students. These men suggest that their work, within schools, is to nurture and – in many ways – rear the boys they teach. This nurturing of students’ socio-emotional development appears to them to be crucial to teaching.

When asked about future plans, the four men of color at the Bronx high turnover school report they would only leave their school if an opportunity to become a school administrator elsewhere became available. At the Bronx low turnover school, where none of the interviewed men of color come from the same community as their students – only one out of the four suggests a willingness to remain at the school.

Significance

Preliminary data analysis suggests that policy makers may be correct in believing that male teachers of color have the potential to serve as role models for disenfranchised boys. However, merely identifying with students does not, within these cases, increase retention among male teachers of color. We observe that the male teachers of color who share similar experiences with students, particularly their social location, are more likely to remain teaching. As such, policy makers interested in identifying ways to retain male teachers may want to recruit men from the school environs.

Author

• Travis Bristol, Columbia University