To give others a better sense of how I approach this kind of reporting, here’s an example of a story I wrote recently about a district in Phoenix where they’ve found ways to bolster the numbers of Black teachers.
The story idea started as I was thinking about missed opportunities to highlight innovation last August, while reporting about a program in Oakland, California, that focuses on young Black boys and men.
One of the program’s pillars is that Black boys and young men need Black male role models as teachers, coaches, and mentors.
There’s a lot of research to back this up. Black kids who have a Black teacher by the third grade are more likely to go to college.
And yet, there aren’t a lot of places where Black and Latino kids are exposed to teachers who look like them.
If having teachers that look like them is so good for kids, who is doing a good job of hiring and retaining teachers of color? Where is progress being made to align teacher workforce ethnicity with student population ethnicity?