African American Female Teachers on Teacher Leadership

• In Event: Beyond the Classroom: Exploring Effects of Teacher Leadership

Abstract

Existing scholarship on teacher leadership fails to present perspectives of African American teachers. Statistics on African American student achievement, continued decline of African American teachers, and failure of No Child Left Behind to adequately address needs of African American students demonstrate the need for a model of teacher leadership informed by what African American teacher leaders recognize as significant practices.
Utilizing critical race theory in education and narrative inquiry methodology to develop profiles of three African American female teachers, each located at different points on an historical and professional timeline; their narratives sketch an African American paradigm of teacher leadership directly addressing school reforms, and suggest strategies for closing the achievement gap for African American students.

Author

• Sheila Teel Robinson, NCA&T State University