Center for Black Educator Development

Get to know The Center for Black Educator Development through our new 2024 Progress Report. Our mission is to achieve educational equity and racial justice by rebuilding the national Black Teacher Pipeline. We envision a world where: *All Black students have access to high-quality, Black teachers throughout their PreK-12 schooling. *All teachers demonstrate high levels of expertise in anti–discriminatory mindsets. *Educator preparation programming, professional learning, pedagogy and policies that advance educator diversity and effectiveness are institutionalized. Read our full report: https://lnkd.in/e6N8UACX

Congratulations to The Philadelphia Citizen's 2024 Educator of the Year, Njemele Tamala Anderson! #BMEC2024 attendees will remember how she brought us to our feet as she shared how she challenged her students to write and perform a rap for a class assignment. She joined in on the project with her own final performance for the BMEC audience.

The Center for Black Educator Development just released its 2024 Progress Report. Board Chair Winston Cox and I wrote a note that I wanted to make sure is shared widely: The link between educational equity and racial justice is undeniable. At the Center for Black Educator Development, our programs are grounded in the well-established fact that students achieve stronger academic, socioemotional and life outcomes when they are taught by a diverse group of teachers. Increasing the diversity of our nation’s teaching workforce has been at the heart of our mission since our founding. We believe it is a vital, irreplaceable aspect of delivering on the educational equity so foundational to the racial justice we all seek. But in these tumultuous times, we’ve been challenged to find the how of it all. How do we better position our motivations in an anti-Black, hyperpolitical climate that bans books, subverts DEI and criminalizes access to Black history? How do we reframe our work to further amplify the voices of students who are in desperate need of alternatives? How do we radically, and unapologetically, reimagine our strategies to dispel critics while making a greater impact? How do we generate transformative change one student and one educator-activist at a time? How do we guarantee a liberating education in times of crisis and resistance? This year, as we pursued our how, we sought to elevate our Teaching Academy Career and Technical Education (CTE) course for future educator-activists. We also double-downed on our student-originated #WeNeedBlackTeachers campaign that’s motivating and inspiring communities across the nation. At the same time, we remained committed to pursuing policies that promote teacher diversity by supporting efforts to recruit and retain Black teachers and fostering school environments where they can thrive. At this year’s 7th annual Black Men in Education Convening (#BMEC2024) in Philadelphia, we brought together more than 1,200 participants from 40 states and three countries for a stellar lineup of plenary speakers, 125+ breakout facilitators and, most importantly, fellowship with one another. One thing we’re sure of in the coming years: our collective efforts to rebuild the national Black Teacher Pipeline and diversify the teaching workforce to create a safe, welcoming and rigorous learning environment for all students will be more imperative and more irreplaceable than ever. We are grateful to all of you who have joined us on this life-changing journey. Read all about our journey in this year's report: https://lnkd.in/guR-tFGg

Get to know everything the Center for Black Educator Development does to work on rebuilding the National #BlackTeacherPipeline. Check out our new annual report to see everything we've accomplished this year: https://lnkd.in/e6N8UACX

Congratulations again to Haverford High School social studies teacher Leon Smith on winning the 2025 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year title. He shared his story with The Philadelphia Tribune and hopes to encourage more future Black educators to join the teaching profession. #WeNeedBlackTeachers

Join us in uplifting and supporting future Black teachers! Donate to help the Center for Black Educator Development continue to rebuild the National #BlackTeacherPipeline: https://lnkd.in/gka7RF9t

Meet Trent Petty, a second-grade teacher at Wister Elementary and one of Mastery’s representatives at #BMEC2024! At the conference, Trent shared some powerful advice for educators: teaching is a mission of delayed gratification. While the results of your efforts might not appear immediately, the long-term impact on the lives of Black and brown children is transformative. He also reminded us of the importance of community: “You’re not alone. Lean on others in the field who share your experiences and stay committed to the mission.” Thank you to the Center for Black Educator Development for hosting this convening and creating a space to connect, grow, and inspire the next generation of Black male educators.

Our organization is focused on rebuilding the National Black Teacher Pipeline because we know the current teacher workforce needs to change. We have a lot of work to do based on the results of a new report by the National Council on Teacher Quality. The 74 Media shares how it found that the college-educated workforce has diversified, but teachers haven't kept pace.

"I became a teacher because I wanted to be the teacher I never had." Congratulations to Leon Smith, the new 2025 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. Smith teaches high school social studies in Haverford Township School District. During his acceptance speech, he explained why teaching is his passion and how he hopes to use this platform to encourage more young people to join the profession. Thanks to Teach Plus Pennsylvania's Laura Boyce for sharing this video with us. #WeNeedBlackTeachers

New teacher diversity data from NCTQ shows that adults of color represent a growing share of college degree holders. Yet, this growth isn’t resulting in comparable improvements in teacher diversity. Teacher prep programs, state policymakers, and advocates all play a role in supporting a strong and diverse teacher pipeline. https://bit.ly/3OiXFPr