Towards Congruency? A Descriptive Analysis of Full-Time Employed Black Teachers in Texas from 2011-12 through 2017-18

There was a period in U.S. history when Black teachers were heavily employed within the educational workforce and were leading examples of excellence (Anderson, 1988). Black teachers, teaching within their communities, were able to directly impact their students' achievement and behavior while also reinforcing shared family values. As a result of the ramifications of implementing Brown v. Board of Education and strategies aimed at pushing Black teachers out, there has been a decrease in the presence of Black educators in the United States. This decline caused a ripple effect that is being felt throughout today's classrooms nationwide. Still, this topic requires more recent investigations of the data to determine if Black teacher attrition is current or a phenomenon of the past. This study examined Texas' teacher workforce data from the Texas Education Agency, highlighting the teacher demographics and identifying if there was an increase or decrease in Black teachers between 2011 and 2017. From the descriptive analysis, the researchers found that for most campuses based on urbanicity types, there was an increase in the average number of Black female and male teachers on campuses. Although racial congruency between the number of Black students and teachers appears to still be in the distant future, notably, campuses across Texas have implemented measures to draw Black teachers to their campuses.