Patterns in Black Teacher Representation Across the United States, 1950–2010

• In Event: Examining and Improving Conditions for Black Educators

Abstract

Purposes: This paper uses United States Census data to present a descriptive, comprehensive overview of changes in the representation of Black educators in major metropolitan areas and states across the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision and the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. Our national analysis highlights geographic units that maintained or increased Black teacher representation through school desegregation and accountability movements, offering opportunities for targeted research on effective policies and practices. The analysis answers the question: in the wake of desegregation in the United States, how has the Black teacher population changed?

Perspectives: Black people used formal schooling to lead Black people out of the oppression of slavery as an avenue for “racial uplift” (Irvine, 1989; Irvine & Hill, 1990). Though Black educators used successful and culturally relevant teaching practices, tens of thousands of Black teachers lost their jobs in school integration (Shircliffe, 2012, Siddle Walker, 2000). Black teachers comprised 35% to 50% of segregated school systems; now they are 7% of the teaching population (Will, 2019). Such declines are especially unfortunate given the importance of Black teachers for the increasing population of students of color (Dee, 2005; Egalite et al., 2015; Villegas & Irvine, 2010). Yet there is inadequate analysis of the heterogeneity of changes in the Black educator population across geographies.

Methods: We measure the percentage of educators who are Black relative to the Black population in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and states. We represent the change in the percentage of educators who are Black in MSAs, given the percentage of employed people who are Black in the same MSA (Yj ) as:
Y_j=p_j2010/q_j2010 -p_j1950/q_j1950
where pjt is the percentage of educators who are Black in metro j in year t and qjt is the percentage of employed adults who are Black in metro j in year t. These ratios focus on representative population parity rather than educator-student racial matching.

Data Sources: We use population figures from the United States Census for its national representativeness, decennial regularity, and occupational classifications.

Results: Among the trends we noticed among changes in the relative proportion of Black educators, Southern MSAs and states had a significant decrease in their relative proportion or stayed the same. Meanwhile, states with a significant increase in Black educator representation are in the United States’ west and midwest regions. Though some of this change corresponds with an increase in Black professional representation across geographies, our findings show that Black people are not yet represented in the professional workforce to the same extent that they are in the workforce more broadly.

Scholarly Significance: Our identification of metropolitan areas and states that outperformed their peers in their representation of Black educators offers opportunities for introspection around policies and practices that can lead to the sustainment and growth of the Black educator population. Furthermore, our paper pinpoints geographies of specific policy interest and will direct future scholars to fruitful case studies of successful Black educator retention efforts. [490 words]

Authors

• Kemi A. Oyewole, Stanford University
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Lee Stovall, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author