Growing up Latina in a white community in upstate New York, Katie Caster did not have a teacher of color until high school, and she didn't have a teacher who looked like her until she started college.
Kim Parker had an opposite experience. Growing up Black in Lexington, Kentucky, she had Black teachers her entire life, experiencing firsthand the need for mentorship by teachers who look like their students. Now, she worries about Black students who will not share her story, as teachers of color face barriers and burnout in the profession.
These experiences drove both women to work in education. Caster is manager of curriculum and education at Latinos for Education and is working toward a doctorate degree at Columbia University Teachers College. Parker is president of the Black Educators’ Alliance of Massachusetts. They joined Boston Public Radio to talk about the lack of diversity among educators and burnout among teachers of color.
In Kentucky, Parker benefited from receiving mentorship from Black teachers and having access to curricula that reflected her experience. “I've always had Black books,” she said. “So at some points in my life, I haven't realized how important they are, because I think I take these for granted. For so many Black kids, they don't get to see themselves in books.”
In Massachusetts, a large gap exists between students and teachers of color. As GBH News reported in October, 14% of teachers in the state are people of color, compared with 40% of students, according to the Wheelock Educational Policy Center at Boston University. With Latinos making up one of the quickest-growing populations of students in Massachusetts, only 3% of teachers in the state are Latino, compared with 9% nationwide, according to Latinos for Education.
This gap reflects Caster’s experience in upstate New York. “I'm personally driven by wanting to provide the experiences that I didn't have growing up,” she said.
Caster explained that part of the problem comes from attrition among teachers of color. “We are being more resourceful — or advocates, role models for our communities,” she said. “There's a constant need to validate or prove ourselves, and I think at times this can be really tiring.”
“We see the same patterns of Black teachers,” Parker added. “I think the pandemic has definitely exacerbated the leaving of Black teachers from the profession in really profound ways, and also is really helping us and pushing us to think about, ‘What do you do to keep the Black teachers who are still teaching?’”
Based on her experience, Parker thinks part of the problem comes from Black teachers coming head-to-head against education systems that do not believe in the potential of students of color. She said Black teachers are often viewed as "oppositional or defiant" in schools without supportive administrators and colleagues.
"Some of the things that we call Black teachers I have experienced myself, because we are advocating for children in ways that mean that we know is right," she said. "That gets tiring, and also it's sort of neverending."
Parker thinks part of the solution for retaining teachers of color must come from white teachers. “It's mostly white teachers, not really being held accountable or pushed to really understand how these systems [of racism] show up.”
According to Caster, another part of the solution comes from better tracking on hiring practices and attrition. “Policy and legislation needs to reflect and change for there to be more educators of color,” she said. “This is calling on districts specifically for more data transparency.”
Despite the challenges teachers of color face in schools, Caster maintains optimism that diversity will increase over time. “Systemic change doesn't happen overnight,” she said. “I think districts are starting to really cement, you know, pipeline programs ... I think we're starting to realize that our next wave of teachers is already there, whether it's the students in our classrooms, or the parents, and our paraprofessionals. I think what's happening now is seeing the shift in pipeline work, and I do think that that eventually will grow and blossom.”
