At a young age, Sharif El-Mekki was intrigued about activism.
Hearing about his interest, a teacher approached him and said there was “no purer form of activism than teaching Black children well.”
“That resonated me and really guided me into looking at education and educational justice being intertwined with racial justice,” said El-Mekki, founder and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development. “I realized that’s what I could pursue.”
When Black students have at least one Black teacher during grades 3-5, dropout rates decrease by about 30%. The rate lowered to 39% for Black students in underserved neighborhoods, according to National Education Association President Becky Pringle.
Exposure to Black male educators also benefits white students as it provides a more “diverse cultural lens for learning,” she added.
To discuss recommendations on ways to increase representation within the teaching workforce, the Educational Testing Service (ETS) hosted the second part of its series, “Structures for Success: Supporting, Developing and Retaining Black Male Educators” on Wednesday evening.
“While we know the urgency of recruiting, developing and retaining more Black male educators to teach in our classrooms, that urgency is now magnified by the educational equity crisis brought on by the pandemic,” said Doris Smith-Ribner, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Emeritus.
