Partisan Politics and the Decline of Race-Conscious Policies in North Carolina's Teaching Fellows Program (1986–2014)

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Gender, and Sexual Diversity in Schools: Politics and Impact

Abstract

In this paper, I combine network analysis methodology and personal reflection to unveil the effectiveness of race-conscious policies in the original North Carolina Teaching Fellows program (1986-2014). Focusing on both the history of the program and my experience in it as a White pre-service teacher from 1997-2001, I analyze program trends that drew on and facilitated bi-partisan transracial anti-racist coalitions in education statewide. Drawing on publicly available documents and recent Twitter posts, I trace a decline in race-conscious policies since 2011, including its “streamlined” iteration under a new Republican General Assembly, and make recommendations for reimagining race-conscious teacher recruitment statewide. Finally, I draw attention to the need to leverage interest convergence in de-politicize programs like the North Carolina Teaching Fellows.

Author

• Gail Buffalo, City College of New York