Contributions to the successes and barriers of African American male educators in K-12 public school education: A Case Study
Authors
Sinclair, Nadine
Issue Date
2019-10-18
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Education , Educational leadership , African American , Male , Educators
Alternative Title
Abstract
There is a shortage of African American male educators in the United States (Delpit, 2006). This underrepresentation occurred as a result of the significant case, Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), which permitted the integration of schools for all (Howard & Milner, 2004). Although this integration was applauded, it resulted in a decline of African American teachers (Sealey-Ruiz & Lewis, 2011). Today, the Black male teacher-student ratio is 1:534, but there is one White female teacher for every five students (Toldson, 2010). Changes are necessary to increase African American male teacher representation in public school. This case study research (Yin, 2014) was conducted to present the journey of eight experienced teachers and three administrators of the New York City Department of Education to understand their school experiences and teaching to gain perspectives about supports and barriers for African American males in the profession. This case used a cross case analysis approach to compare the teachers and administrators thematically coded responses to the semi-structured interview questions. The study used a qualitative research approach to construct meaning from both teachers’ and administrators’ experiences. The researcher gathered information to determine the connections between the participants’ experiences and their views of African American males as educators (Lapan, Quartaroli, & Riemer, 2012). To obtain information, the qualitative data was collected with face-to-face interviews, which allowed researcher to ask questions while gaining insight through reflections of the participants’ experiences (Lapan et al., 2012). The 11 participants interviewed provided detailed descriptions of their experiences. By coding the interview data, emergent themes were generated. In general, the belief from both teachers and administrators is that for there to be an increase in African American male educators, it is necessary to make the education field more attractive to them by providing them with equitable compensation, incorporating additional support in college preparation courses, increasing collaborative measures from university programs to diversify and improve teacher education programs, and creating mentor opportunities for struggling teachers to receive support outside of the classroom. Findings showed African American male teachers and administrators faced many barriers in education. Participants discussed the African American male student experience, including the disproportionate placement in special education (Harry & Anderson, 1994), high expulsion rates and increasing gaps in academic achievements as factors contributing to the negative experiences African American males encounter in school.
Description
Citation
N. Sinclair, "Contributions to the successes and barriers of African American male educators in K-12 public school education: A Case Study", Ph.D. dissertation, School of Education, Univ. of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT, 2019.