This article is one of a series of articles produced by Word in Black through support provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Word In Black is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media outlets across the country.
By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
In an ambitious effort to alter the educational landscape and more effectively serve the district’s diverse student body, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) has made significant investments to recruit, retain, and support more educators of color, with a particular emphasis on increasing the representation of Black men in classrooms.
Through initiatives like the Academy for Rising Educators (ARE) – a program that helps SPS high school seniors and recent graduates, and current SPS staff earn their teaching certificate — the district is confronting a longstanding gap in representation, recognizing that having more Black male teachers in classrooms can dramatically improve student’s cultural understanding, community engagement both leading to better academic outcomes for all students.
While the program aims to hiring and recruiting more aspiring educators of color, the program has been successful in identifying and attracting more Black males to enter the field of education.
Dr. Sarah Pritchett, assistant superintendent of human resources for SPS, underscores the district’s commitment to change.
“We have a grow-your-own program that we’ve had now for over a decade, our ARE program,” Pritchett said. “It is one of our programs that we have developed and refined, concentrating on people of color, men, women, and really focusing in on our classified staff who are currently working for Seattle Public Schools. That’s where we see a lot of our African American men, people of color, and so we’re working to support them to build their career.”
The Academy for Rising Educators was launched to nurture and train a diverse pipeline of future teachers, particularly among current SPS staff. By offering mentorship, tuition assistance, cohort support models, and professional coaching, the program helps individuals build sustainable careers in education and address the critical shortage of teachers of color.
Pritchett detailed the district’s multi-layered approach to retention.
“Overall, we have coaching for all our teachers that are in years one through three. We’ve developed affinity groups so that there’s networking. Some of our programs do have kind of a cohort model so that they continue to have that support with one another,” said Pritchett. “We look at placement and where folks are being placed, trying to make sure that some of our teachers are not just the only ones in the building. We know that can be taxing.”
“So, we’re exploring all kinds of ways,” she added. “I don’t think we’ve got it down, but part of it is making sure that they have the support, they have the coaching, and they have mentoring. That’s part of what we do as we look at retaining our staff, particularly our teachers of color.”
Pritchett noted that retention rates among Black educators have remained relatively strong over recent years, even as challenges persist. Seattle Public Schools data shows that between 2017 and 2023, retention rates for African American men and women hovered around 85 percent. In 2017, for example, 176 Black staff members were employed, with 156 retained, representing an 88.6 percent retention rate. By 2023, the total number of Black educators had increased to 193, with 156 retained, reflecting an 80 percent retention rate. While the slight dip in 2023 highlights ongoing hurdles, Pritchett said the growth in the number of Black male educators is encouraging.
“When we open our programs every year for applications for our ARE programs, we have over 100 applicants. We always have more applicants than we have dollars to pay for tuition,” Pritchett said. “And so, we see that our school leaders, having them tap individuals that they have hired, tapping into those that they feel would be great teachers. So, we have that. We recruit from within; our school leaders are helping to recruit. And we definitely see a difference. We definitely see an interest.”
She attributed the growing interest to the district’s internal recruitment strategies and support programs.
When it comes to education representation cannot be overstated. Many of the lessons Black male teachers bring to the classroom go far beyond academic content and pedagogy. Their unique lived experiences create a rich curriculum that contributes to student success in ways that can’t be graded or easily quantified. Using methods that transcend traditional teaching and learning, Black male teachers can provide hope, inspiration, advice, compassionate listening and, sometimes, tough love to make a difference in their students’ lives. The same can also be said for other ethnicities.
“I think it’s important for our students to see all the possibilities,” Pritchett said. “I think society focuses on, of course, sports and music, and there are so many other possibilities for all of our kids. We just want to make sure that our students are seeing that representation—that yes, you can be a teacher, whether that’s elementary, middle, or high school—and that sports and music aren’t our only avenues for success.”
DeShawn Jackson, a Black educator who serves as a student and family advocate at John Muir Elementary School, echoed Pritchett’s view. He emphasized that for young Black students, seeing Black men in education is essential for expanding their vision of what success can look like.
“First of all, it’s not a lot of us to begin with, so it’s all about representation,” Jackson said. “If you don’t see yourself in that type of job, then how do you know you could do it? It’s generally always been lots of Black women in teaching, in those positions, and it’s pretty much always been that way.”
Jackson pointed to cultural and systemic influences that discourage young Black men from pursuing careers in education, including low salaries and the glorification of sports and entertainment as the primary routes to financial success.
“I don’t think it’s appealing to Black males,” says Jackson. “Nobody grows up saying, and when I say nobody, I’m sure there are some, but no one wants to be a teacher. There’s not too many of us. Most of the kids at our school want to be professional basketball, football, and baseball players. I rarely hear a young Black student saying, ‘I want to be a teacher.’ So, I don’t think it’s ever really been appealing.”
Despite these challenges, SPS leaders remain optimistic about the growing interest in teaching careers among Black men.
Jackson also highlighted another key advantage of having more Black male educators: the respect their presence commands in the classroom.
“It’s crazy because these Black boys, they don’t respect Black women, and especially not the white women teachers,” Jackson said. “So, when there’s a male—just that male presence, that voice—it means a lot. Especially coming from a Black male, someone that looks like them, speaks the language that they speak, knows the things they’re going to go through because we’ve already been through them. It’s 1,000% important.”
Pritchett emphasized that bringing more teachers of color, and especially Black men, into the classroom is not just a goal but a necessity.
“I think that we’re always looking for more teachers. We’re looking for more Black men, we’re looking for more teachers of color,” she said. “We’re trying to ensure that our kids have the best folks sitting in front of them. We’re always open and looking and hoping that folks are really considering Seattle Public Schools as a career choice.”
