African American Male Educator Pipeline

According to the U.S. Department of Education, less than 2% of our nation’s teachers are Black males, even though ethnic and racial minorities make up more than half of the student population in the U.S. public schools. It should come as no surprise that men and women bring different perspectives to the classroom, and those differences are further differentiated by one’s racial and cultural identities.

The benefits of having black spaces and black male educators far surpass the classroom and learning outcomes of students. A Johns Hopkins University economist followed 100,000 black students, who spent at least a year with just one black teacher in primary school and found low-income black males with black teachers are 39% less likely to drop out of high school, showed a 29% increased interest in pursuing college, and had positive near-term impacts on grades and test scores.

The Foundation for Tacoma Student sought to launch and design a Black Male Educator pipeline pilot consisting of two tracts: 1) from paraprofessional to certified teacher and 2) non-degreed to paraprofessional. Our services:

• Proposed and executed a pilot development design by interviewing and auditing the infrastructure of the four institutional members (i.e. Tacoma Community College, Foundation for Tacoma Student, Tacoma Public School District and Evergreen College);
• Designed a phased expansion post-pilot findings to promote sustainability, adoption, and multiagency integration
• Developed a citywide strategic plan to center government as a co-steward in institutionalizing the initiative; and
• Provided a fund development plan.