Increasing attention is surrounding the need for school districts to hire more Black male teachers. Academics and journalists alike have offered statistical and common sense evidence to show the importance of Black male teachers for a variety of reasons. For example, a North Carolina study showed a decrease in disciplinary referrals for Black students when taught by a Black teacher. A New York University study showed that Black students preferred Black teachers; Asian students preferred Black teachers more than Black students. Lastly, a study of Tennessee students Showed that when randomly placed with a Black teacher, Black students showed more improvement that Black students taught by White teachers. The wealth of evidence isn’t just to add Black male teachers to urban and inner-city classrooms. The evidence points to the benefits of Black male teachers in all of classrooms. More simply, Black male teachers should be hired in school districts nationwide because they are underrepresented in America’s classrooms. Black male teachers are only 2% of the nation’s teaching population; it is safe to hypothesize that Black males make up more than 2% of the nation’s student population. In New Jersey, Black male teachers are 1.6% of the state’s teaching population (1,926.5 teachers); Black students make up roughly 16% of the state’s student population (216,329 students). New Jersey needs more Black male teachers in the classroom.
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Urban Education Mixtape 