Learning from Educators, Aligning our Offerings: An update from Teacher Truth Director, Dr. E’rika Chambers
Four years into Teacher Truth, I am keenly aware of our purpose. As the Lead Researcher for Teacher Truth and Programs Director at BlackFemaleProject, I am proud to share that our vision is clear, our offerings are aligned, and our impact is expanding. As recent media has made clear, interest in the well-being of Black people–and Black educators–has waned. At the same time, DEI work that rapidly rose in popularity (though not always integrity) is now seeing a steady decline. Still, I find myself sitting with profound, almost inexpressible gratitude.
Increasingly, the educational community recognizes Teacher Truth as trustworthy storytellers. This is only possible because we work to cultivate truly safe spaces for Black educators to express themselves authentically, beginning with our own culture of care. By holding space for Black educators to speak their truths–unmasked and vulnerable–we support their healing, well-being, and, consequently, their positive impact as educators. Black educators deserve healing, and their students deserve healed educators.
In March, we had the opportunity to support another Black female educator affinity space in collaboration with the Unity Forum, the Black women’s leadership arm of the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA). As one participant shared her painful workplace experiences with the room, audible and visible affirmation came from the group. The woman sharing was brought to tears by the immediate validation she received. She didn’t need to convince anyone that her experiences were real. We not only saw her; we saw ourselves in her, and that recognition resonated powerfully.
Another woman shared that she could not and would not continue to show up in a workplace where her intellectual capacity was consistently questioned. How, she asked, would she be able to offer time and joy to her children when she was being harmed on a daily basis? In the safety of our community, she declared a commitment to self-care that rejected the indignity that Black educators experience at work too often.
We know Teacher Truth spaces allow Black educators to tap into their wisdom and generate their own solutions. However, as the nearly identical 2021 and 2023 Teacher Truth survey data suggest, identifying a solution is not the same as actualizing it. By listening to Black educators and engaging with current discourse from the educational field, we’ve identified a missing link: folks know what they need but not who or where to get it from. At Teacher Truth, we feel called to respond. We are positioning ourselves as the link that connects trustworthy service providers with the educators, schools, and districts that need them.
To this end, in 2024, we turned our attention to a robust year of partnership building. We tabled and displayed our Teacher Truth Gallery at several events throughout the year. We’re grateful to have been present at Black Vines’ wine festival in Oakland; San Jose’s Juneteenth in the Streets Festival; CAAASA’s annual Round-Up event in Berkeley; and the Hewlett Foundation Education Grantee Convening in Atlanta, Georgia.
In March, we attended CAAASA’s Professional Development Summit, where we interviewed 14 attendees in our Teacher Truth Booth and gave out over 1,000 “Thank You, Black Educators” t-shirts–because we meant it: Thank you, Black educators!
We presented our workshop, Brown v. Board of Education: 70 Years Later - Teacher Truth and Black Teacher Resistance, at the National Coalition on Education Equity (NCOEE) conference. We shared the 2023 Teacher Truth survey data in the workshop as well as at a separate conference hosted by the Unity Forum.
Through all of this year’s engagement, we’ve personally connected with over 2,500 educators and started 15 exploratory conversations to begin the warm hand-offs that will connect educators, school districts, teacher associations, etc., to the organizations that we trust are best qualified to meet their needs.
As always, we work at the speed of care. Our research continues to make the case that without healing and well-being at the center–especially for Black educators–none of the resources or support will work. We must first connect at the human level and then build trust to go deeper.
This fall we will host eight more Teacher Truth focus groups with Black educators and add their stories to our growing digital collection. The integrity that undergirds our data collection and storytelling also positions us to impact the field. As more change agents look to understand and improve the experiences of Black educators, insights gleaned from Teacher Truth data, reports, and testimonials can and should inform their efforts.
I remain humbled by and grateful to the many hands and hearts that shape the work of Teacher Truth. I sit at the table with educational leaders like Dr. Tameka McGlawn, Dr. Micia Mosely, and Dr. Britte Haugan Cheng, our brilliant, human-centered strategic partners in the work; and I receive constant encouragement from our Executive Director, Precious Stroud. As I continue to lead and learn from this work, I am honored to do so alongside and in service of so many Black women, people of color, and allies who also seek to uplift the voices of those we need to hear from most.
