U.S. Metropolitan Demographic Change and the Importance of Black Teachers in Suburban Schools

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Demographics: The Promises and Possibilities of Teaching in the United States and Abroad

Abstract

Many U.S. suburbs have experienced significant and swift racial demographic change. Yet, the presence of Black teachers and administrators in suburban schools has overwhelmingly failed to keep pace with changing student demographics. Using a critical phenomenological approach, I examine the import of Black teachers to the school choice decision-making processes and educational experiences of seven Black families in two demographically changing suburbs of Detroit. I highlight how the presence of Black teachers influenced families’ perceptions of whether their child would receive fair treatment and support that considered their particular social, cultural, and academic needs. Implications suggest the importance of recruiting and retaining Black teachers in racially changing school districts to create equitable and navigable school systems.

Author

• Dana Gabrielle Nickson, University of Washington - Seattle