Educators Say Black Male Teachers Are Ideal Mentors For Black Male Students

The Jackson (TN) Sun (4/12, Cheshier) reports on the need for black male teachers in Jackson-Madison County Schools, where "black men make up 5 percent of" the districts' 1,140 teachers. Although "about 60 percent of the student population is black," Only "about 28 percent of the teachers in the system" are black men and women. According to a 2008 NEA report, "Black men make up one percent of the 3 million kindergarten through 12th-grade public school teachers in the United States." Educators say that "black male teachers are important mentors, and in some cases father figures, to black male students." Still, school officials say, "many school systems compete for a small number of black male teachers." The NEA report "suggests that districts can hire more minority teachers if they create programs that help teachers of color pass entry tests and give them support once they're in the classroom."