Conceptualizing a Black Female Teacher Pipeline: From Recruitment to Retention to Retirement

Abstract

Considering Black women’s historic contributions and enduring legacy in education, their continual disproportionate underrepresentation in US public schools is severely problematic. The absence of Black women in many public schools nationally is disconcerting given their potential to improve school outcomes for students of Color. Despite this finding, teacher education programs and school districts struggle to effectively recruit and retain Black women. Employing Black feminist epistemologies, this paper conceptualize a Black female teacher pipeline (from recruitment to retention to retirement) within a cultural-ecological framework to uncover deeper understandings of the systemic processes that hinder access of Black female teachers in K-12 classrooms. The paper then provides a discussion of specific practice and policy recommendations and concludes with implications for Black women educators and the diversification of the US teacher workforce.