FUBU: Participatory Action Research With Black Teachers in Philly and Detroit

• In Event: For Us, With Us, By Us: Research With Black Teachers by Black Teachers and Black Researchers

Abstract

Our latest, and current work in this area is a participatory action research (PAR) project intended to explore the conditions that lead to Black teachers’ success and retention as well as their attrition. While we drew on existing research and scholarly literature to generate the general focus of this project, the PAR study involves teachers as experts to shape, design and conduct the study, focusing on their active role and contributions rather than solely respondents (as in the Philadelphia study) or even as advisory committee (as with the Allegheny County Study).
Our research team has been working collaboratively with 10 Black educators - 4 from Philadelphia and 6 from Detroit - to design a study that allows us to learn from the perspectives and experiences of Black teachers in their respective cities. The teacher-researchers have been leading the decision-making for this project, and have developed research questions that seek to address the challenges they believe are most pressing. The research questions include:
1. How do Black educators in Philly and Detroit understand their role and their unique contributions to the teaching profession, now and in the past?
How are the perspectives that they bring to teaching and learning unique?
How are their unique contributions described among Black students in Detroit and Philadelphia?
How have/in which ways do current Black educators draw on the legacy of /pioneering Black teaching practices and commitments?
2. How are Black educators (veteran and new) in Philly and Detroit making sense of the current state of the teaching profession?
What changes are they noticing and how do they understand them?
How are they responding to these changes?
In which ways has the current state of the teaching profession impacted the Black teacher pipeline (Black teachers retiring, Black students not pursuing the profession)?
By design, the PAR approach aims to center the perspectives and knowledge production of historically marginalized groups whose expertise has been lacking from the research and resultant discourse. We recognize that teachers are often not listened to or treated as professionals, even as they are the most important agents of change in schools and this project involves researchers and participants working together as researchers and change agents. Such an approach ensures that the project outcomes will represent and serve Black teachers and their communities, and enrich the knowledge production of the field of education.
The nature of participatory action research—whether it be in partnership with youth or adults—is emergent and collaborative. Teacher-researchers are currently in the data collection process, conducting interviews and focus groups with Black teachers and Black students in Philadelphia and Detroit. Our data analysis and sense-making phase will begin in August. Findings from this project will inform specific change-oriented actions intended to address Black teachers’ challenges and issues of retention, led by the teacher-researchers themselves.

Authors

• Kevin Burgess, Research for Action

• Joseph Sutton, Black Male Educators Alliance

• Courtney Parker, University of Michigan