Educators and policy wonks of many stripes pretty much agree that U.S. classrooms need more minority teachers.
But how to make that happen?
One Philadelphia principal is trying to do his part by launching a new organization that aims to bring together Philly’s black male educators and provide them with professional support to thrive in their jobs. The group, called The Fellowship, also wants to become a hub for the recruitment and retention of black men in education.
Black men account for just two percent of the nation’s teaching workforce.
“We want to be able to affect policy as well as practice,” said Sharif El-Mekki, the principal of Mastery Charter School’s Shoemaker campus in southwest Philadelphia, not far from where El-Mekki grew up.
Read more: How one principal is trying to get more black men into the classroom
