Search

As education reform continues a seemingly endless cycle of incremental advancement for students and teachers of color followed by the inevitable White-centric backlash threatened by ideas like equity and anti-racist curricula, it is essential to consider perhaps now more than ever, what the past has to teach us all. Inspired by three voices from the past in particular, this article seeks to begin a conversation to bring back, to recycle what has been too often side-aside at the intersection of racism and sexism: the powerful lessons we may learn yet from African American women teachers. This article represents the beginning of such an effort to bring forward ideas that we already knew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to investigate Black teachers' perceptions of their impact on Black student achievement. Study participants included teachers with 2-15 years of experience from neighboring school districts in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Data were collected during school-year 2011-2012. Methods included journal writing, focus groups, interviews, and a questionnaire. Findings reveal that teachers found it difficult to positively impact Black student achievement because of frustrating situations they faced, including institutional, pedagogical, relational, positional, and cultural frustrations. The findings complicate the portrayal of Black teachers as culturally synchronized othermothers, mentors, and role models for Black students and highlight the negative, unintended consequences of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]