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The Urban Review

, Volume 50, Issue 2, pp 247–266 | Cite as

#Blackwomenatwork: Teaching and Retention in Urban Schools

  • Abiola Farinde-Wu
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Black female educators played a vital role in segregated schools prior to the 1954 landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Despite their notable and historic presence in the field of public education, presently they are disproportionately underrepresented in the U.S. teacher workforce. Acknowledging the shortage of Black female teachers in K-12 classrooms, the purpose of this qualitative study is to explore why Black female educators teach in urban schools. By examining Black female educators’ initial draw to urban schools in what I conceptualized as the urban factor, I hope to reframe the implicit biases often surrounding urban schools. Concluding, three themes emerged about Black female teachers’ thoughts on and preferences for urban schools, with additional unexpected findings about their perceptions of student behavior and teacher retention.

Keywords

Black female teacher Urban education Teacher retention Teacher recruitment 
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© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Leadership in Education, College of EducationUniversity of Massachusetts BostonBostonUSA

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