There's a new push to increase the number of men of color in the classroom. According to the nonprofit Early Learning Indiana, there's a major lack of ethnic and gender diversity in early childhood education.
For Black students in America, having a same-race social studies teacher is extremely rare. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), social studies teachers make up just 7% of the entire teacher workforce. And of all social studies teachers, roughly 94% are White (54% men and 40% women). Just 3% of America’s social studies teachers are Black men. And only 3% are Black women. 
In 1992, as a sophomore at Arcadia High School in Accomack County, James Fedderman needed an A on the final exam in order to pass his English class.
Dennis Wright says he never planned on being a teacher. It wasn’t until he was encouraged to enroll in the South Carolina Teacher Cadet program during his senior year of high school that his “eyes were opened” to a career in education.
He was named Georgia's Pre-K Teacher of the Year last fall and was recognized as the first black man to get this honor. 
In April 2001, former Clemson University and NFL football player Jeff Davis sat on a soundstage in Chicago across from talk show host Oprah Winfrey. 
Maurice McDavid raps to teach and connect with his students. McDavid is an Assistant Principal at Cortland Elementary School near DeKalb. 
Upon walking into a childcare facility, the majority of the teachers employed will be female. The ratio of men working in a childcare program compared to females is heavily skewed.
Darryl Diggs Jr. only had two African American male educators in his school years.
Education professor J. Luke Wood has spent years researching and talking about the challenges male students of color have in pursuing and attaining a college diploma — family income, social stigmas, complicated experiences in elementary and high school.
One early childhood educator said he wanted to be a male role model for children. Others were drawn to teaching after becoming fathers. Several said they like teaching young children because it allows them to make a difference in their communities. 
On a late Thursday afternoon, 5th grade teacher Patrick Harris closes out his day planning lessons for the coming week and helping his students find their friends throughout the building.
My first day in the classroom is one I’ll never forget. I was given a room of curious sophomore students — 43 of them. 
For two years as a teaching assistant in a Pre-K classroom, Johnathon Hines learned about rituals and routines and how to keep a 4-year-old student's attention long enough to impart a lesson.
If you look inside many of America’s classrooms, you’ll notice someone is missing: black male teachers.
Stephen McKinney comes from a long line of educators and advocates in North Carolina. His mother and grandmother were elementary and middle school teachers, and his sister began her first year in the classroom last fall. His father was a prominent figure in the fight for LGBTQ equality in the state and still advocates for underrepresented communities today.
Throughout my career as a Black male teacher, I’ve taught in district and charter schools. While many remain determined to highlight their differences, they’re one and the same when it comes to their failure to serve Black children and their inability to attract and retain quality teachers who look like them.
California State University, Northridge has partnered with the University of California, Berkeley and the Compton Unified School District (CUSD) to launch a three-year pilot program to improve the retention rates of male teachers of color.
Cedric Jackson knows firsthand the impact that regular exposure to a positive black man can have on impressionable students — especially young black boys.
Race matters in the classroom, with black students who are exposed to a black teacher doing better in school, a new research report says.
Bemidji Area Schools leaders are considering ways to help existing staff become classroom teachers.
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