Home Diversification of the educator workforce: toward communities of practice and integrated networks of care
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Diversification of the educator workforce: toward communities of practice and integrated networks of care

  • Romena Holbert EMAIL logo , Ganiva Reyes , Belinda L. Flick , Connie Bowman , Trey Clements , Tammy Schwartz , Christa Agiro , Novea McIntosh , Rochonda Nenonene and Sandra Sumerfield
Published/Copyright: January 13, 2025
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

Diversification of the Educator Workforce (DEW) is an urgent need requiring intervention to push against many deeply entrenched systemic barriers (Chapman, Anne. 2021. Opening doors: Strategies for advancing racial diversity in Wisconsin’s teacher workforce. Wisconsin Policy Forum. Available at: https://wispolicyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OpeningDoors_FullReport.pdf; James, Weade & Jacqueline Rodriguez. 2020. The use of networked improvement communities in educator preparation programs to improve teacher shortage and diversity. Success in High-Need Schools Journal 16(1). 10–22). This collaborative autoethnographic case study (see e.g., Chang Heewon, Ngunjiri Faith & Hernandez Kathy-Ann. 2016. Collaborative autoethnography. New York: Routledge) illustrates how a group of individuals across institutions collaborated to dismantle barriers to students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) entering the educator workforce. More specifically, this study reveals how members embodied a collaborative and non-competitive approach to overcoming systemic barriers that BIPOC teacher candidates experience. Through this collaborative approach, the unique contributions of members were evident, and tenets of critical consciousness and feminist theory supported the development of an integrated network of care (Reyes, Ganiva. 2021. Integrated networks of care: Supporting teachers who care for Latina mothering students. Critical Studies in Education 62(4). 471–485). This case study identifies positive impacts of communal support of DEW workers and illuminates invisibilized labor of professional stakeholders and BIPOC students.


Corresponding author: Romena Holbert, Department of Teacher Education, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway 485 Millett Hall, Dayton, OH, 45435, USA, E-mail:

References

Avila, Elena & Parker, Joy. 1999. Woman who glows in the dark: A curandera reveals traditional Aztec secrets of physical and spiritual health. New York: TarcherPerigee.Search in Google Scholar

Breckenridge, Jenna. & Derek Jones. 2009. Demystifying theoretical sampling in grounded theory research. Grounded Theory Review 8(2). https://groundedtheoryreview.com/2009/06/30/847/.Search in Google Scholar

Brookings. 2018. The US will become minority White by 2045. Avenue. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects/.Search in Google Scholar

Bufacchi, Vittorio. 2005. Two concepts of violence. Political Studies Review 3(2). 193–204. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-9299.2005.00023.x.Search in Google Scholar

Carver-Thomas, Desiree. 2017. Diversifying the field: Barriers to recruiting and retaining teachers of color and how to overcome them. In Equity assistance center region II. Intercultural Development Research Association. Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED582730.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Carver-Thomas, Desiree. 2018. Diversifying the teaching profession: How to recruit and retain teachers of color. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/165/download?inline&file=Diversifying_Teaching_Profession_REPORT.pdf.10.54300/559.310Search in Google Scholar

Chang, Heewon, Ngunjiri, Faith & Hernandez, Kathy-Ann. 2016. Collaborative autoethnography. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315432137Search in Google Scholar

Chapman, Anne. 2021. Opening doors: Strategies for advancing racial diversity in Wisconsin’s teacher workforce. Wisconsin Policy Forum. Available at: https://wispolicyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OpeningDoors_FullReport.pdf.Search in Google Scholar

Collins, Patricia Hill. 1991. Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York: Routledge.10.1086/229850Search in Google Scholar

Conley, Bill & Robert Massa. 2022. The great interruption. Inside Higher Education. Available at: https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/views/2022/02/28/enrollment-changes-colleges-are-feeling-are-much-more-covid-19.Search in Google Scholar

Creswell, John W. 1998. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.Search in Google Scholar

Davis, Olga Idriss.. 1999. In the kitchen: Transforming the academy through safe spaces of resistance. Western Journal of Communication 63(3). 364–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/10570319909374647.Search in Google Scholar

Delgado Bernal, Dolores, Elenes, C. Alejandra, Godinez, Francisca E. & Sofia, Villenas (eds.). 2006. Chicana/Latina education in everyday life: Feminista perspectives on pedagogy and epistemology. Albany: State University of New York Press.10.1515/9780791481516Search in Google Scholar

Egalite, Anna J., Brian Kisida & Marcus A. Winters. 2015. Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement. Economics of Education Review 45. 44–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007.Search in Google Scholar

Fairclough, Adam. 2004. The costs of Brown: Black teachers and school integration. Journal of American History 91(1). 43–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/3659612.Search in Google Scholar

Fierros, Cindy O. &Dolores Delgado Bernal. 2016. Vamos a platicar: The contours of pláticas as Chicana/Latina feminist methodology. Chicana/Latina Studies 15(2). 98–121.Search in Google Scholar

Gold, Thomas. 2020. Pipeline and retention of teachers of color [Report]. In Digital Promise. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12265/96.Search in Google Scholar

Galtung, Johan.. 1969. Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of Peace Research 6(3). 167–191. https://doi.org/10.1177/002234336900600301.Search in Google Scholar

Hakkola, Leah, Mollie A. Ruben, Cam. McDonnell, Liliana. L. Herakova, Rebecca. Buchanan & Robbie Karen. 2021. An equity-minded approach to faculty development in a community of practice. Innovative Higher Education 46(4). 393–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09540-8.Search in Google Scholar

Hochschild, Arlie Russell. 2012. The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling, 3rd edn. Oakland: University of California Press.10.1525/9780520951853Search in Google Scholar

I Educate Montgomery County. 2023. I Educate Montgomery County: About. Available at: https://sites.google.com/view/i-educate-montgomery-county/about?authuser=0.Search in Google Scholar

James, Weade & Jacqueline Rodriguez. 2020. The use of networked improvement communities in educator preparation programs to improve teacher shortage and diversity. Success in High-Need Schools Journal 16(1). 10–22.Search in Google Scholar

Lave, Jean & Etienne Wenger. 1991. Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511815355Search in Google Scholar

Local and Regional Government Alliance on Race and Equity. 2022. Our approach. Available at: https://www.racialequityalliance.org/about/our-approach/.Search in Google Scholar

National Center for Educational Statistics. 2021. Racial and ethnic enrollment in public schools. Available at: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cge.Search in Google Scholar

Niemann, Yolanda Flores. 2012. Lessons from the experiences of women of color working in academia. In Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Yolanda Flores Niemann, Carmen G. González & Angela P. Harris (eds.), Presumed incompetent: The intersections of race and class for women in academia, 446–500. Denver: University Press of Colorado.10.2307/j.ctt4cgr3k.40Search in Google Scholar

Noddings, Nel. 2013. Caring: A relational approach to ethics and moral education. Oakland: University of California Press.Search in Google Scholar

Ramaley, Judith. 2016. Collaboration in an era of change: New forms of community problem-solving. Metropolitan Universities 2(1). 3–24.Search in Google Scholar

Reyes, Ganiva. 2021. Integrated networks of care: Supporting teachers who care for Latina mothering students. Critical Studies in Education 62(4). 471–485. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2020.1789683.Search in Google Scholar

Simmons, Andrew.. 2018. Teacher recruitment starting in high school. Edutopia. Available at: https://www.edutopia.org/article/teacher-recruitment-starting-high-school.Search in Google Scholar

TNTP. 2020. A broken pipeline: Teacher preparation’s diversity problem [Report]. Available at: https://tntp.org/publications/view/teacher-training-and-classroom-practice/a-broken-pipeline.Search in Google Scholar

Vasquez, Ramon. 2019. Forget about justice: Survivance and resistance in teacher education. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis 8(1). 1–11.Search in Google Scholar

Walker, Diane & Florence Myrick. 2006. Grounded theory: An exploration of process and procedure. Qualitative Health Research 16(4). 547–559. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732305285972.Search in Google Scholar

Wenger, Etienne. 1998. Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511803932Search in Google Scholar

Wenger, Etienne, McDermott, Richard & Snyder, William M. 2002. Cultivating communities of practice: A guide for managing knowledge. Brighton: Harvard Business School Press.Search in Google Scholar

Wenger, Etienne & Beverly Trayner. 2015. Communities of practice: A brief overview of the concept and its uses. Available at: https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/.Search in Google Scholar

Whatley, Jillian Katri. 2018. Implicit bias as a contributing factor to disproportionality of African Americans in special education: The promise of a bias literacy intervention. Georgia, USA: Mercer University Dissertation. https://ursa.mercer.edu/bitstream/handle/10898/5087/Whatley_mercer_1160E_10067.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2023-03-12
Accepted: 2023-09-29
Published Online: 2025-01-13

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 12.10.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/mlt-2023-0017/html
Scroll to top button