Teachers, leadership, and Black boys’ racialized funds of knowledge

Abstract

While an abundant literature has theorized the complex and layered reasons why many young Black men choose not to teach and/or leave the K-12 classroom, comparatively less has been written about the professional journeys of those few who stay and slowly make their way through teaching and into teacher leadership. In this article, we story a young Black male educator’s professional trajectory across K-12 spaces as a teacher, an instructional coach, and a K-12 public policy research associate. Our findings emphasize how the racialized funds of knowledge that Ryan Holmes (a pseudonym) accumulated as a Black boy in a highly segregated rural South Carolina town were the social catechism that later guided his professional interactions with (White female) K-12 teachers and administrators. We conclude with the argument for hearing and receiving Black male teacher-leaders’ lived experiences in hyper-segregated K-12 spaces.

Keywords:

• Black male teachers
• instructional coaching
• new teacher support
• new south
• funds of knowledge

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marquis Mason

Marquis Mason, PhD, is an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Spencer Salas

Spencer Salas, PhD, is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.