Across the entire United States, there aren’t nearly enough Black teachers inside classrooms. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, less than 7% of teachers nationwide are Black; only 1.5% of...
Tag - student achievement
E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer. But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History...
According to a new study, teachers who teach in high-poverty schools are penalized on their classroom observations and often, those teachers are Black. This is another aspect of the invisible tax on Black teachers that encourages...
Districts and schools search incessantly for meaningful, sustainable, and effective school-based interventions — and those efforts often fail. Tons of money has been spent on countless concepts. Professional development on...
I didn’t need the new John Hopkins University study to tell me black teachers matter. Diverse teachers, diverse leadership and diverse school cultures create higher expectations, stronger communities and better outcomes...
As a new teacher and career changer, I owe so much to the coaching prowess of Mrs. Yvonne Savior. That’s right, even her name was Savior, and it was her guidance and support that helped me have the impact I sought with my...
I’ve written about teacher accountability before, but I recently read a few things that got me thinking. The first was a report out of Los Angeles that showed that nearly half the teachers in Los Angeles’...

How My School Helped Me Find My Way in America, Raise Two Children and Be the First in My Family to Graduate
During my last trips to visit family in Rwanda and the Congo, I was able to connect with countless people who are working on reconciliation from a war that ravaged the area, and improving education for those who were unable to...
At Mastery Charter School Shoemaker Campus, I’m not just a teacher; I am a warrior for social justice. Education in America, wherein we have legislated who can learn and with whom one can learn, is inseparable from...
Hildebrand Pelzer III, the principal of a public school, lays out the hard, slow work of improvement—and what it takes to turn schools around. On tough days, I want to close my school and start a new one from scratch. But I’m...