Effective teachers can change and save lives, but being a great teacher is hard. The challenge is especially acute in our high-poverty, under-resourced public schools where teacher tenure is lowest. Black and brown students...
Tag - diverse
We all know that a teacher’s instructional skills matter for students. But a growing body of research shows that their background and life experience matter, too. This is especially important for students of color: while all...
Education was a second career for me—but it wasn’t for lack of trying to make it the first. In college, I pursued a major in education for one semester, but became discouraged by the striking absence of Black men and women in...

You claim that you want diverse teachers, but you don’t want to interrogate how race, power, and mindsets work in your school.
I was a principal at Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker in Philadelphia for many years. We took to heart the concept of windows and mirrors, decorating our walls with images and quotes from popular heroes; Malcolm X, Dr. King, Rosa...
Mansur Buffins served as a summer intern at The Education Trust. Over the summer, he wrote for their blog page. Mansur reminds me of members of The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice and Philly youth like...