J4J is deeply concerned that across the United States, the number of Black teachers is in sharp decline.
We know that students do better overall academically when they are taught from someone in their own racial group. A study of 9 American cities, Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington DC, all noted a decline in the number of Black teachers. All of these cities curiously are places where school privatization has taken root. We are teaching our children a very immoral and dangerous lesson: that Black people are not fit to lead. America’s colleges of education are not producing Black and Brown teaching candidates. J4J is calling for federal support for the Grow Your Own Teachers Initiative to create a pipeline of Black and Brown teachers in school districts that serve children of color. We are also calling for the ending of biased basic skills exams which eliminate Black and Brown teaching candidates, when we know the basic skills exam has no bearing on teacher quality.
