The Draw of Urban: Black Female Teachers' Preferences for Urban Public Schools

• In Event: 51.072 - Black Female Teachers: Diversifying the U.S. Teacher Workforce

Abstract

Prior to Brown v. Board of Education 1954, Black female educators played a significant and vital role in segregated schools. Despite Black female teachers’ historic presence in the field of education, presently Black female teachers are disproportionately underrepresented in the U.S. teacher workforce. Acknowledging the shortage of Black female teachers in K-12 classrooms, the purpose of this qualitative study is to explore why many Black female educators teach in urban schools. By examining Black female educators’ initial draw to urban schools in what we conceptualized as the urban factor, we hope to reframe the implicit biases surrounding underserved, urban schools as less desirable workplaces (Ingersoll & May, 2011) and unearth reasons why those Black teachers who enter teaching gravitate more toward urban schools. Three themes emerged about Black female teachers’ thoughts on and preference for urban schools with an unexpected finding about Black female teachers’ perceptions of student behavior. Concluding, recommendations are offered for policy and practice.

This study is significance because literature tells us that Black teachers are underrepresented in the teaching field (Author, 2016), but it also conveys that teachers of Color, Black teachers included, are more likely to work in under-resourced, urban schools (Achinstein, Ogawa, & Sexton, 2010). In addition, if few African Americans are in the teaching field, we need to know the reasons why those who enter teaching gravitate more to urban schools. This study is also important because we need more scholarship that opposes the negative master narratives surrounding urban education, urban schools, and urban communities and instead speaks to the rich and unique features of urban schools and contexts.

Authors

• Abiola Farinde-Wu, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Ayana Allen-Handy, Drexel University

• Bettie Ray Butler, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Chance W. Lewis, University of North Carolina - Charlotte