Inside one push to diversify NYC’s teacher workforce

“Sign up for Chalkbeat New York’s free daily newsletter to get essential news about NYC’s public schools delivered to your inbox. New York City’s teachers don’t reflect the students they serve, but one recent public school grad is trying to do his part to shrink that gap. Students of color make up the vast majority of the nation’s largest school system, yet white educators are more than half of the teaching workforce . Better representation at the front of the classroom can affect student outcomes. Studies have shown students who have teachers of color tend to have better test scores, attendance, and graduation rates. P.S. Weekly producers Ermione Aleah Raymond, from the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice, and Mateo Tang O’Reilly, from Central Park East High School, compare teaching diversity within their own schools and examine how the lack of it affects their experiences as students of color. Ermione interviews Isaiah Nicholson, a college freshman who was once in their shoes and now wants to make a dent in the data. Isaiah is a fellow in NYC Men Teach , a 10-year-old program based out of the City University of New York that aims to bring more men of color into the city’s teacher pipeline. Over the past decade, the program contributed roughly 3,200 new male teachers of color to the city’s public schools, a new report said. P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell . It’s available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify . Reach us at PSWeekly@chalkbeat.org. New episodes drop on Thursdays. P.S. Weekly is made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation. Transcript Ermione : I know I’ve already defied a lot of stereotypes people have placed on me about me. I’m black and grew up with an immigrant single mom.I spent time in foster care. I’m a first generation college student who’s headed to a prestigious university on a full ride next year. This causes me to feel a lot of pressure. And sometimes, when trying to succeed in school I’ve felt brushed off or misunderstood. And sometimes, I wonder if it’s because my teachers don’t really look like me. Ermione : This is P.S. Weekly, the sound of the New York City School System. I’m Ermione Aleah Raymond and I’m a senior at Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice high school. Mateo : And I’m Mateo Tang O’Reilly. Ermione : This week we’re talking about racial diversity, or rather, the lack of racial diversity, among NYC teachers…So Mateo have you felt represented by your teachers in school? Mateo : Honestly, not really. Most of my teachers are white and I’m not but I feel like when I look inward to their personality or character I do feel somewhat represented, but as far as race and appearance, not really. Ermione : I felt more represented at my middle school, but at my high school, which is, mostly Black and Brown students, the teacher population doesn’t really reflect us. Mateo : Is this specific to your school or is it more of a citywide pattern? Ermione : Well I did a little research and found that this is a major trend across NYC schools. White teachers make up more than half of the New York City teaching force despite the fact that only about 16% of NYC public school students are white. Mateo : Beyond the statistics, what does this mean for students. Is it just about being and feeling seen or does it go deeper? Ermione : This ultimately does go deeper. Studies have shown that students who have teachers of color or teachers that represent them tend to have better test scores, better attendance, better college placement, and graduation outcomes. As humans, we often gravitate towards people who look like us in spaces in which we feel uncomfortable in, and imagine education. The education system is one that is tends to be daunting for most students. Once you see teachers who look like you and people that look like you, they’re often able to grasp your culture and understand you to a deeper level, and that connection ultimately provides you with the comfortability to learn. Mateo : And what about the teachers themselves? How does this affect them Ermione : Oftentimes there are some black teachers in schools, but according to a study from New York University, Black teachers leave their jobs at much higher rate than teachers of other races From 2019 to 2024, so over that five year span, New York Schools have lost 36% of their white teachers and 50% teachers of color. That’s a pretty big difference. But teacher’s of color are more likely to stay if they have a black principal or majority black teachers at the school. Mateo : That makes a lot of sense to me. What’s being done about this? Are the efforts being made to train more black teachers and teachers of color in general? Ermione : There are a few different initiatives but I found out about one in particular — an organization called Men Teach NYC. Men Teach NYC is a program between the Department of Education, The Mayor’s Office and the CUNY schools. And the program just celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary! Men teach offers career mentorship and resources to connect young men of color into the teaching field. This includes giving them metrocards, book vouchers, academic advisors and support in their teacher certification exams. Additionally, participants receive stipends for their student teaching work. They recruit college students at the 16 CUNY campuses and even reach out to high school students interested in teaching, And that need for more male teachers of color is so real. While 45% of students in the city are young men of color, only 7% of their teachers are. I talked to Isaiah Nicholson. Isaiah is 19 and a first year college student. He’s a part of Men Teach NYC. In the morning, he attends his college classes, and then at one he heads to his school placement where he works as an assistant teacher for first graders for the rest of the school day. During the afterschool program, he helps out with fifth graders. I spoke with him about how he is doing his part to build a teaching workforce that looks more like the students it serves and what inspired him to get involved. Ermione : Hi. Hi. Um, as you know, my name’s Ermione. Thank you for being a part of my interview Isaiah: Of course. Ermione: what is your name and occupation? Isaiah: Well, um, I am Isaiah Nicholson. I’ll call myself a future educator. Like, I’m not fully a teacher yet, but I’m working my way on to becoming a teacher. Ermione : I am doing this story because I was interested how teacher diversity affects students and what is being done to train future teachers. I’m curious, when did you first have a black teacher, or specifically your first black male teacher? Isaiah : But the first teacher that I saw that was a, that, that was a Black man and he was of color, was in sixth grade. So when I saw that, I was like, “Yo, I can actually become a teacher if I really wanted to.” Ermione : Hmm. Tell me what really drew you into the program. Or who? Isaiah : Yeah, so basically when I was like nine years old, they were trying to get me in summer camp. I was like, “I don’t wanna do no sim- sum- no summer camp.” I hated summer camp. I didn’t want to do it. You know, I always thought it would be like, uh, boring to me. I don’t know why I thought that, but I hated the idea of going to a building. You gotta call someone Mr. and Mrs. Like, the idea that just didn’t feel right with me. So I was like upset about trying to go, go to summer camp, day camp. Until my cousins two of my cousins, you know, decided to, you know, become a mentor at that place, and that kind of opened my eyes up to wanting to do it, you know? And yeah, like he definitely helped me. He inspired a lot of my passions, too. We still talk to this day, you know. And yeah, that’s pretty much Ermione : Can you describe your path to becoming a teacher? Isaiah: Yeah. So this all started in sophomore year. You know, I had the opportunity to join a program, and at the time I was like, “I don’t wanna join.I don’t, I don’t wanna teach anything. I don’t, I don’t know how to teach people things,” you know? I feel like that’s not really my thing. But you know, after I saw my cousin, um, he was my mentor at at a, at the school program, you know, um, during the summertime. And I saw how passionate he was for, you know, for teaching kids, working with kids in general. And because of that I was like, “Yo, I can actually do this.” So I decided to apply for it, and yeah, I got the opportunity to join In 2024, in the summertime, I was with Men Teach and went to, to a school, and we, you know, we were like more of a more of a co-teacher. You know, throughout the whole year when I w- was working with the, with the program, with the, you know, secondary program. So I didn’t really get, you know, the full benefits, but I got the full teaching experience during the summer mostly. Like, the s- the, like, the year-round thing was to build experience with children, but the summertime was for me to understand, like, how to make a lesson plan, how to teach the kids the right way, and to be able to answer their questions, you know. Pretty much that. And I had a lot of confidence when I did it too, so I was happy that I went up there. I didn’t stutter, ‘cause I have a stuttering problem sometimes. So, I was glad that I was able to teach the kids, you know, in the best way possible. Without any problems. Ermione: Throughout your teaching path, do you see yourself having any challenges? as a student trying to get into this career field. Isaiah: Early on I had to understand how children operated. You know, I, I didn’t really understand too much about children besides that they can be loud, they can be distracted. So over time, I realized, hey, I can actually learn how to incorporate a new style of teaching with the old style and able to have the students, you know, say, “Okay, I can look up to this guy. He can help me. He can, you know, guide me." Ermione: Tell me about how that moment you mentioned earlier impacted your decision to become a teacher. The memory of first seeing a teacher of color. Isaiah: I didn’t see myself becoming a firefighter, a police officer. I didn’t see myself doing those kind of jobs. Being a teacher, you know, was still wasn’t part, you know, of my plan either, but it’s something that I could do with ease, ‘cause I like talking to people about anything. I could talk to someone all day about s- one thing, and it can go, you know, anywhere. So that definitely helped me to, like, understand, okay, I can do ELA.I can, you know, do some social studies, help them out with that, you know. So yeah, opened my eyes up more to it. . Ermione : You’re in your first year of college. You’re in this Men Teach program. Can you walk me through a typical day-to-day in the program? Isaiah: Yeah. So basically under Men Teach, I’d have s- schooling in the morning, of course, and then 1:00 I would go to the school that I’m assigned to For the last hour and a half of, you know, the school day. Then I would transition w- to the after-school program with, you know, with the school, and I’ll help teach the kids there as well. Ermione : Hmm. So in a way, you’re both getting the educational background of teaching, but you’re also getting the hands-on experience. Ermione: What mission do you feel like you’re contributing to by being a part of this Men Teach program? Isaiah: Paying it forward. You know, they can see a face that looks like them, you know, doing something that, oh, you, I would say just giving them, like a good image, a good positive role model. You know, that’s important to me, you know, for them to see that, okay, this guy looks like me. He, he works in the same way that I can work. I could become him in the future. Just to pay it forward so they can see that, oh, they could become me, or they can do something similar to pay it forward. Ermione: How do you plan to take what you learn from the Men Teach program and apply it to real-life education? Isaiah: Yeah, I’ll say just the way that I learned how to deal with children, you know, mostly how they overreact, how they do things wrong. Like, I can... Like, I learn from that. And when I become a teacher in the future, I can, you know, take that experience and bring it forward Ermione: Okay. Here’s a fun little question to- Okay ... break it up. Um, what grades do you wanna teach in the future and why? Isaiah: Anything but middle school. Ermione: Oh. Isaiah: Well, I, I’ll say like either, like, first grade or fifth grade. You know, it, it depends on the subject mostly. Ermione: Okay. What subject do you wanna do? Isaiah: I would say I’ll do ELA, English, you know, that’s my specialty. I, I love writing. You know, when I was seven, I had so many, I’ll, I’ll say fake books, you know, of, of my, um, my, my kitty cat at home. You know, I made little fake stories, you know. Like let’s say this, um, cat in, in the beanstalk, you know, just little...my imagination going far. That’s all I would say. So yeah, I’ll... And I love doing English work. Ermione: Yeah, then I think sixth, and you not choosing sixth through eight is a good decision ‘cause it’s quite hard in those years. Isaiah: Yeah, especially math. Ermione: Ugh. Yeah. You don’t gotta say nothing. You don’t gotta say nothing more. I feel that. Isaiah: Yeah. I can’t stand math. Ermione: I can do one plus one, subtraction, addition, but you lost me when you started doing division. Yeah, Isaiah: It’s, it’s letters, it’s letters as you get older, because letters. Ermione: Why, why do we have to- A Isaiah: No. A plus Ermione: A plus B equals C, and you could C me out. Thank you. How do you expect this program to uniquely position you for success in the future? Isaiah : I can see myself, you know, doing a good job. I have more confidence now. When I first started, I had no confidence. I didn’t think I could hold down a lesson by myself. I didn’t think I could, I could control a class by myself. But some- b- but there have been times where I have, you know, dealt with kids. the teacher steps out for a minute, and then I have to, you know, change my role.So, you know, I definitely learned how to, you know, deal with all that. So I’ll be able to bring that forward with me. Ermione: What do you and your fellow program participants think of the role of diversity in New York City schools? Isaiah: It’s very important, you know. It’s very important. Because people can see that, okay, I can do this, too, and that’s what’s mostly important. it’s very important to see different faces, different people, do different things. Ermione: What do you think needs to be done to increase this diversity in schools? Isaiah: I would say, more interest in teaching, you know? Right now,is not, like, people’s first choice, you know, after high school. They wanna, you know, do psychology. They wanna do- You know, business management, different things, but education is not like, Okay, wanna teach kids." No. No one’s not thinking about that. They always think about the, the downsides to it. They don’t think about, “Oh, I can, I can impact this kid. He can go home and say, ‘Oh, Mr. Isaiah did this today.he helped me with my math work.’” You know? So definitely it’s very important to get people interested in the, in the field, but that’s hard to do because it’s not many benefits that they see automatically. Ermione: Yeah, the pay, the long hours Ermione: What do you hope to make students feel in the classroom? Isaiah: want them to feel safe, that they can look up to me, they can see, “Okay, I can get my work done from him. I can get some help from him if I need it.” You know, they, they can always see that, okay, I’m right there. That’s what’s important to me, that they, that they know that I’m right there for them. Ermione: What do you hope your students say about you 20 years from now? Isaiah: I would hope they’d be like, “Oh,” like they recognize me, you know? I, I hope they recognize me, you know? And see, okay, yeah, even though when I was younger I didn’t understand, but now I understand Like you did before, you know? So I want them to, you know, get, uh, uh, I say get older and see, you know, how much I did for them. That’s all pretty much. Ermione: As someone who’s a up-and-coming teacher, what do you think teachers need to feel supported in the workforce? Isaiah: I would say just to know that people are supporting them. People, that they know that someone’s there and they understand the impact. Because teachers don’t see the impact right away. Like, they teach the kid and then 20 years later someone come to see them, you know, they ha- they all grown up. They’re not kindergarten no more. They have a wife and kids. They have a a great job. They don’t understand the impact until years later. So it’d be nice if some- for them to see the impact right away from the students. But then again, that’s, you know, a part- It’s kinda hard to, you know, kinda hard to see because students, you know, at the time they would despise the teachers, you know. Butasthey get older, they reflect. “Okay, kindergarten, thaat was a good teacher,” you know. But teachers don’t see the im- don’t see the impact right away. So I, I wa- so it would be nice for t- for stu- for students to, you know, give feedback and even, you know, the principals show them that they’re doing good’ cause some principals can be strict, and they don’t show too much emotion. Like, “Oh, you did good.” But they don’t understand how good they did. I’ll say that. Ermione: So last question. Is there anything you wish I asked you but I didn’t? Isaiah: I would say shout out to Chimere Stevens. You know, he’s the one who t- is the director of Men Teach. So, you know, to him, of course, you know. Thank you for, you know, taking me under your wing. You know, you helped me a lot, you know. And to the, you know, kids out there who wanna become teachers in the future, just have the passion for it. Like, don’t, you know, don’t join it if you don’t want to for the money. Just do it for the kids. You know, do it for the kids. Ermione : Say you were taught by more teachers of color and more teachers that looked like you, how do you think this would’ve affected your education journey? Mateo: I would say it would make me more comfortable around them because I feel like oftentimes with like my white teachers, there’s like a line that gets really, not blurry, but thick that like I know I can’t cross. It feels like it’s not my place to do certain things. So I feel like if there were more teachers that looked like me, it would be kind of like automatic in a way that like, oh, I know I can do this and say this, and automatically relate and connect to them on A, B, and C. What about you? Ermione: Well, one, it would make my education journey more smoother. I feel like oftentimes I get in little, not fights, but I have to stand up for myself. Or say there’s a relationship between a white teacher and a white student, then they wouldn’t have to stand up for themselves as much as I do. And it feels like a constant battle or a constant fight just to be seen from my perspective, opposed to just being a student who’s trying to do the best they can. There are a lot of other efforts that have the goal of making the teacher workforce look like the community it serves. For example, at least 24 public high schools in NYC now offer teacher training programs. Even my school has one now. But it takes time to see the impacts of this Like Isaiah pointed out, as a young teacher, you don’t see the impact right away It makes sense to me that making NYC’s teacher population more diverse starts when future teachers are still kids in the classroom themselves. Ermione: That’s all for today on P.S. Weekly. Mateo: P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between The Bell and Chalkbeat, made possible by generous support from the Pinkerton Foundation. Ermione: Producers for this episode were me, Ermione Aleah Raymond Mateo: And me, Mateo Tang O’Reilly Ermione: Our senior producer for the show is Maria Robins-Somerville and our technical director is Jake Lummus. Mateo: Executive editors are Amy Zimmer and Taylor McGraw. Additional production and reporting support was provided by Mira Gordon, Sabrina Duquesnay, Zana Halili and Katelyn Melville, and our friends at Chalkbeat. Ermione: Music is from APM, and the jingle you just heard at the beginning of the episode was created by the one and only Erica Huang. Ermione : Thanks so much for tuning in, and see you next time. We make transcripts available for our episodes as soon as possible. They are not fully edited for grammar or spelling.

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