Increasing the Black and Latinx Math Teacher Workforce Through Multileveled Coaching and Mentorship

• In Event: Pathways, Practices, and Policies for Increasing Educator Diversity in K-12 Schools

Abstract

This presentation describes a project, led by an HBCU in the south and a local school district it serves, aimed at recruiting, preparing and retaining math teachers of color to address the critical shortage of Black and Latinx math teachers in low-performing urban K12 school districts. The presenter will also seek feedback and ideas from participants in the room to strengthen the project moving forward.
The HBCU and its partners redesigned the university’s Master of Arts (MAT) in Teaching Mathematics degree program to address teacher shortage and teacher readiness concerns. Recruitment and preparation are key components of the project, with emphasis on holistic support for novice teachers of color to ensure the likelihood of persistence in the first three years of their practice. The research suggests that this approach is crucial for Black and Brown early-career teachers because of the unique challenges they face relative to their white counterparts (Carver-Thomas, 2018; Garcia & Weiss, 2019; Goings & Bianco, 2022).

In addition to providing multidimensional mentorship to support the effective navigation of social and cultural contextual nuance, the project deploys a two-pronged coaching framework that furnishes support for mental health and well-being, and math literacy. Given what we have learned and continue to learn from the pandemic and the widely documented research surrounding how stress affects the mental health and well-being of teachers in high-need and low-performing urban schools (Bristol & Martin-Fernandez, 2022; Brown & Suh, 2022; Fitchett et al., 2018), it is critical to build in a component that addresses this longstanding issue. A second level of coaching in the form of math literacy coaching was deployed to ensure that teacher candidates were clear on grade-level concepts and how teenagers understood and applied them. The focus was and is on developing the teachers' ability to connect mathematical concepts with students' lived experiences; a strategy which has been shown to improve engagement and achievement among students of color (Hubert, 2014).

References
Bristol, T. J., & Martin-Fernandez, J. (2022). Supporting the mental health of teachers of color: Implications for STEM teacher preparation and retention. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 59(6), 958-982.
Brown, E. L., & Suh, Y. (2022). Promoting wellbeing among preservice teachers of color: A culturally responsive approach to STEM teacher preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(4), 389-402.
Carver-Thomas, D. (2018). Diversifying the teaching profession: How to recruit and retain teachers of color. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/559.310.
Fitchett, P. G., McCarthy, C. J., Lambert, R. G., & Boyle, L. (2018). An examination of US first-year teachers' risk for occupational stress: Associations with professional preparation and occupational health. Teachers and Teaching, 24(2), 99-118.
Garcia, E., & Weiss, E. (2019). The Role of Early Career Supports, Professional Development, and Learning Communities in Teacher Turnover. Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-shortage-professional-development-and-learning-communities/
Goings, R. B., & Bianco, M. (2022). The importance of holistic support in the preparation of Black male STEM teachers. Urban Education, 57(4), 546-570.
Hubert, T. L. (2014). Learners of mathematics: High school students' perspectives of culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy. Journal of African American Studies, 18(3), 324-336.

Author

• Sean S. Warner, Clark Atlanta University