The Challenge
A teacher corps that reflects its students’ racial and ethnic identities and backgrounds can help close achievement and opportunity gaps. Yet in Pennsylvania, while 15% of all students are Black, only 4% of the state’s teachers are Black. In Philadelphia, this disparity is even more striking—49% of all students are Black, while only 24% of public school teachers identify as Black. Access to Black educators is proven to help students of color remain in school, graduate on time, and matriculate to college.
The Project
Through this Emerging Leader Fellowship, Malcolm Davis will work with the Center for Black Educator Development to address the critical shortage of Black educators in Philadelphia by increasing equity in the recruiting, training, hiring, and retention of high-quality educators that reflect the backgrounds of the students they serve.
Specifically, this Fellowship will enable Malcolm to:
- Develop and implement a comprehensive workplan to advance teacher diversity in Philadelphia public schools in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia.
- Support the Researchers Roundtable on advancing teacher diversity.
- Design and promote a policy agenda and advocacy plan for advancing teacher diversity in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
