TEACHER TRUTH PERSPECTIVES | REFLECTION
On Wednesday, August 14, we gathered together with Teacher Truth supporters from all across the U.S. for our fourth annual Perspectives event. Black educators and other concerned community members joined us from New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and, of course, from Northern and Southern California. We’re humbled by the ongoing and expanding enthusiasm our community pours into Teacher Truth.
After Director of Programs, Dr. E’rika Chambers, welcomed the group into the space, she turned it over to BlackFemaleProject Founder and Executive Director, Precious Stroud. Precious lifted up the 10-year journey that’s brought us to the current moment of our work, including the story of how Teacher Truth came to be our first industry-specific project. “In 2020,” she reflected, “we had a team of people who were envisioning what Teacher Truth could be, not knowing that we'd be here four years later, gathered with you talking about multiple years of data, years after we first interviewed the five educators who came in and took off their masks and got in front of two or three cameras and shared.” She emphasized our gratitude for those first educators who were willing to contribute to Teacher Truth before we knew what it would become.
Our focus shifted next to what Teacher Truth has become. The research took center stage as Dr. Tameka McGlawn and Dr. Britte Cheng guided us through an overview of our key learnings. As Dr. McGlawn explained, “When we started our effort, the purpose really was to examine, elevate, and explore—examine the experiences of race and racism in the workplace; elevate the voices of Black educators and honor their lived experiences in a very purposeful way, knowing that oftentimes their voices and experiences aren't necessarily valued or heard; and explore navigating how protection and self-care and healing and wellness and well-being is playing itself out in real time.” Dr. Cheng shared some of the ways we’re leveraging the information we’ve gathered about these patterns around healing and well-being in the face of systemic racism. “We have had the opportunity to share with CAAASA [the California Association of African American Superintendents and Administrators] and with the National Coalition on Educational Equity in Washington, D.C. this past May,” she said. “We're really trying to take this information and share it with leadership who can support those who work with and for Black educators across the country to really support them in their practice.”
As she reminded us all of the complex context our work is happening in, Dr. Cheng spoke to ongoing threats to educators committed to teaching the truth about the history and persistence of institutional racism. She offered a big picture pulse on the state of Black educators’ experiences in this context, lifting up what seem to be promising trends in the reduction of racist experiences: “While the numbers seem to be moving around and decreasing,” she said, “what is true is that not a single respondent went through the survey and said they did not experience racism.” Dr. Cheng’s latter point underscores the importance of keeping this work going, seeing that every Black educator who responded to our most recent survey reported that they’re experiencing racism at work in some way. Teacher Truth continues to hold space for Black educators to share and process their experiences while also elevating the practical tools and supports they find effective in navigating these challenges. As Dr. McGlawn said, “We want to be able to create more places and spaces to learn from educators and teachers what is happening that works well for them. We also want to spend some more time learning about what is working well so that we can continue to build on it.”
Once we heard about what Black educators have been sharing, we got to hear directly from educators. As Founder and Executive Director of The Black Teacher Project, Dr. Micia Mosely, said of her partnership with Teacher Truth, “Our norm for what education looks like is not continually reproduced by dominant culture, but in fact we are taking what we learn from Black educators and reframing, refocusing what education can look like for young people.” To that end, a number of Black educators joined us live to share a bit about themselves, their educator journeys, and their Teacher Truths; we heard from others by way of video reflections from events we’ve attended this past year. All of the Black educators who made their voices heard in the space—including the many attendees who generously shared their thoughts—helped to humanize and bring to life the data our research team shared.
As we continue preparing to administer our next Black educator survey in 2025, Perspectives has yet again had the impact it’s had on us for the past many years. We are inspired, energized, and clear that this work plays a vital role in the fight for justice for Black educators and their students.