African American Male Teachers and the School Leadership Pipeline: Why More of These Best and Brightest are not Principals and Superintendents

Exploring the career trajectories of Black male educators in p-12 education

“…The proportion of individuals in these roles remains an inequitable representation of the percentage of enrolled P-12 students either by race or societal racial demographic distributions. The same pattern holds true for the superintendencies, as less than three percent of the nation’s nearly 15,000 superintendents are Black (Fenwick and Akua, 2013). The under-representation of Blacks and other racial minority groups within the P-12 administrative workforce, comparable to their representation in the wider population, may serve as an indicator of intentional or consequential racism and inequitable employment practices within the profession.…”

“…By contrast, Black male teachers are often characterized as “superheroes” who have overcome these stereotypes (Brown and Donnor, 2011). Additionally, as some educators claim Black male students are difficult to manage (Bryan, 2019), many Black male teachers also note the substantial reliance on them to function as disciplinarians for students of color (Fenwick and Akua, 2013). However, within this exceptionality, Black male educators are still often more closely scrutinized and more likely subjected to unfair or inequitable treatment within their school districts which results in a continuous cycle of resistance-accommodation to historic, marginalized norms and practices as a way in which to survive the profession (Lynn, 2006).…”

“…A recent NCES survey notes approximately 30% of teachers who leave the classroom move into a position with administration (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014). Yet, Black males are often passed over for principalships and superintendencies or are consigned to the ranks of coaches, disciplinarians or other non-curricular positions (Fenwick and Akua, 2013).…”

“…Research indicates that HBCUs provide a disproportionately high number of Black educators, both male and female, to the profession (Jefferson, 2012). As there have been a few successful initiatives at HBCUs, most notably at Howard and Morehouse, to educate Black men for educational careers (Fenwick and Akua, 2013), renewing those initiatives or creating new initiatives with HBCUs to attract more Black males to the teaching profession may prove fertile ground to alleviate the dearth of candidates.…”

“…In many schools and municipalities, there is often a stunning lack of diverse voices on hiring committees (Fenwick and Akua, 2013; Solomon, 2015). Studies indicate that the more diversity represented on the hiring panel, the more likely qualified, diverse candidates will be hired for positions (Bristol, 2014; Goings and Bianco, 2016).…”