By: Peggy Brookins, NBCT, President  & CEO, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

There has been much attention drawn to the Black Lives Matter movement in the past year. From Ferguson to Baltimore, the challenges of urban youth have appropriately been front page news. The stories I focus on daily haven’t been front page news but they affect all minority children: Why is there a dramatic achievement gap in schools across the country? How can minority students be given a fair chance to achieve to the best of their ability? What can be done to manage these critical life-altering challenges that incorporate vast societal questions of socioeconomic disparity, multiculturalism and the essence of family? 

My premise in the article you’re about to read is that black children need high-quality black teachers (just like white children need high-quality white teachers). We all need role models who look like us. We all need our teachers to understand our unique experiences. We all need our education to adequately prepare us to lead productive lives. Of course, this includes understanding diversity, but, there is a vicious cycle that sometimes makes it hard to prepare minority children.

The dramatic events of the civil rights movement may be over but ground zero for the latter day civil rights movement is education. Nick Kristoff in the New York Times went further by saying that, “the most crucial struggle against poverty is the one fought in schools.” All of poverty’s downsides manifest themselves in the nation’s schools.

As teachers, we know that young people make mistakes. Failing and getting back up is hard work, but capitalizing on those struggles and converting them into teachable moments is, in part, a teacher’s job. I don’t excuse felonious behavior. But, I know that those of us with imperfect track records are often in the best position to engage with students in those same circumstances. Teacher preparation programs should understand this and develop pre-service candidates with this perspective in mind.
 
CAEP Standard 3 addresses Candidate Quality, Recruitment, and Selectivity – that is, who gets into teacher education programs. How are teacher candidates selected and, conversely, who are we excluding based on the standards? 

I know a thing or two about standards. My organization, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, defines what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do in 25 certificate areas. Created by teachers and experts in child development, teacher education and relevant disciplines, the standards committees provide input on the corresponding assessment that leads teachers to achieve National Board certification.
 
Like the students before us, the teaching community isn’t a homogeneous group and we wouldn’t want them to be – diverse backgrounds bring unique perspectives and opportunities for students. To preclude imperfect candidates – those who may have lacked academic focus as a youngster – is a failure to welcome potentially wonderful educators who are willing to do the hard work called for to better their academic standing. 

Because I believe in opportunity for all, I’m an advocate for providing entry to teacher candidates who demonstrate passion and potential. The bar I set is for excellence before earning a diploma from teacher education programs. This approach encourages hard work, acknowledges that collaboration, mentorship and support adds value, and enables the reflection and growth that go along with accomplished teaching. Given the fact that we are in the business of education and we demand a high-quality heterogeneous workforce, we must provide opportunity for candidates who learn at different rates. 

We know that some of the smartest children don’t do so well in school. Angela Duckworth, a research psychologist and McArthur Foundation “genius” award winner has spent years studying the concept of grit. In a 2013 TED talk, she said, “Doing well in school and life depends on more than being able to learn quickly and easily.” She went on to say that the one characteristic that is a predictor of success is grit. That is, passion and perseverance for long term goals, having stamina, sticking with your future. Grittier kids are more likely to graduate, and this is true even for kids at risk for dropping out.

Limiting entry to those identified as “high performing” on typical, sometimes questionable measures achieves little other than “protecting” our students from these tenacious young people who are disproportionately people of color. 

In the New York Times, journalist Motoko Rich recently pointed out that “Across the country, government estimates show that minority students have become a majority in public schools. Yet the proportion of teachers who are racial minorities has not kept up: More than 80 percent of teachers are white.”

But, what difference does it make if one learns from a teacher of color?  I can answer that from first-hand experience and from the research, too. Students need to see themselves in their teachers. They need to see what they can achieve; they need to see mentors; they need the high expectations of teachers who have, themselves, achieved; mostly, they need to see their own future.
 
As a child, I often walked into classrooms and I was the only person of color. My classmates weren’t necessarily racists but they did tell subtle jokes that had racist undertones. They didn’t understand my sensitivities. And, neither did my teachers. I had nobody to go to because I was one of very few African American students in the school! 

What impact did this circumstance have on me and more importantly, how does this impact students across the country? I’m confident that my experience in school would have been markedly different if I had a teacher who could truly empathize with my unique needs. 

James Comer is a child psychiatrist and professor at Yale who has spent his career seeking to improve the scholastic performance of children from lower-income and minority backgrounds. He has famously posited that “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.” This may seem obvious on the surface but, I ask, Does this need for a relationship look the same for a middle class child as it does for a child of poverty? To me, the answer is self-evident.

Dr. Comer (with whom I serve on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans) acknowledged that many bright children from low-income families lack some critical skills and habits needed to perform at a high level in complex settings such as college. It couldn’t be more critical that students have a caring, empathetic and demanding environment in which to develop skills to set them on a path for life-long success. 

The places to develop these essential skills are at home and at school. Indeed, parents may try their best to provide that nurturing and demanding environment – some succeed and some may fail. In a presentation to a group of teachers on what it takes to be a good teacher, Baltimore City school student “Aiyana” made her expectations clear. “If a student doesn’t think they can do anything they put their mind to, it’s time to get more involved. It’s true that a lot of motivation and effort starts at home. But, when you become a teacher, you signed up to recognize that things might be rough at home or in the neighborhood.” Students know they need strong teachers, empathetic teachers, high expectations from teachers.

It is well within our means to assure that in all levels of our education system, students will have a diverse array of teachers to offer an appropriately nurturing and demanding environment so they can thrive. This acknowledges the fact that the racial makeup of our teaching corps must closely mirror the rest of society. 

Focus for a moment on expectations. Esther Quintero, senior fellow at the Albert Shanker Institute, wrote in a 2014 piece that expectations are “related to standards but are not the same thing. Expectations are a complex and unobservable construct -- succinctly, they are unconscious anticipations of performance.” She goes on to say that, “current reforms might be making it more difficult to develop and sustain high expectations for all students, and to create classrooms where all students experience similar opportunities to learn.”

Subtle or not, a teacher’s expectations vary and they shape the way a teacher engages. Quintero believes that “expectations tend to be self-fulfilling. The higher the expectations for someone, the more likely it is that this person will receive opportunities to speak up, the more likely it is his/her suggestions will be positively viewed by others. By contrast, the person for whom group members hold lower performance expectations will be given fewer opportunities to contribute, will speak less and in a more hesitant fashion, will more frequently have his/her contributions ignored or poorly evaluated.”

What unconscious expectations do teachers have when different students walk into a classroom? For students and teachers at any level, it is the standards that help us keep a teacher’s personal biases from interfering. That is, one as remarkable as Aiyana or one with a remarkable set of challenges.

All teachers – regardless of race or any other factor – should treat students equitably, recognize their individual differences and account for those differences in their practice. Given the focus on CAEP standards, it’s important to stress that the work of a classroom teacher is complex work. All Americans should understand the standards of excellence – that is, what should teachers know and be able to do? Clear and rigorous standards that define accomplished teaching help teachers and undisputedly help student learning. So, which would you rather have for your children – a great teacher or a teacher who looks like them and has had similar experiences? The standards make it more likely that parents won’t have to face that either-or decision in the future.

What do we need to make the practice of teaching broadly learnable in ways that are reliable, equitable, and responsible? Teacher education programs must assure content knowledge and they must also identify key practices of teaching that improve student learning while being reliable, equitable and responsible.

I understand that expanding the number of high-quality teachers that mirror our society will not be a silver bullet. It will, however, level the playing field, making it more possible than ever to close the achievement gap and provide every child the chance to achieve to the best of their ability.