Retaining teachers of Color: The role of equity professional development

Abstract

This narrative, qualitative study aimed to examine the potential relationship between equity professional development and ToC retention. With teacher attrition on the rise, especially among Teachers of Color (ToC), schools need to create a supportive work climate for ToC that lead to greater job satisfaction and retention (Kokka, 2016). Educators need a safe space to learn, unpack, and discuss how to best reach their students in an equitable manner. Professional development gives them the opportunities to engage with their colleagues in a collective movement to create inclusive classrooms that can transform social realities (Dyches & Boyd, 2017). Unlike typical professional development, equity professional development engages participants’ identities, compelling introspection. This study sought to understand the lived experiences of ToC career choices and highlight their voices around equity training.

While this research study showed that there was not a direct correlation between the two, it did reveal the most prominent factors in career continuation for ToC, along with their gauge of equity professional development’s value. The ineffectiveness of equity professional development alone was not detrimental enough to deter the ToC from their career continuation choices. However, it was also not effective enough to act as a significant retention factor. It appeared that district-delivered equity professional development had little impact on ToC career continuation choices; instead, they questioned its effectiveness in improving their workplace and pedagogical practices.