We Call BS: The Insufficient Response to Diversifying the Teaching Force

• In Event: Teachers of Color: Experiences Along the Pipeline

Abstract

Despite calls to diversify the teaching force, educators continue to fail in recruiting and retaining teachers of Color. We critique the approach of ‘fixing the pipeline’ without addressing the toxic soil in which these pipelines lay. Most strategies work on the institutional level to revise policies within existing institutions. We argue that institutional reforms do not address the root causes which lie in the toxicity within the very core structure of our society. We will share how three major toxic causes are at play- racism, capitalism and nationalism. As faculty in an urban teacher education program committed to recruiting teachers of Color, we will share case studies illustrating how these toxicities have created barriers despite institutional support for their retention.

Authors

• Tanya Maloney, Montclair State University

• Bree Picower, Montclair State University