A Pathway For Black Educators Who Raise Up Legacies
By Katherine Tolliver, M.S. Ed | Green Dot Public Schools California
In Los Angeles, I witness the immense yet untapped impact Black educators can have in inspiring and empowering our youth daily. However, stark representation disparities create barriers for many of our Black students struggling to envision education careers without those shared cultural mirrors. The absence of more diverse mentors ripples through generations. My aim is to construct accessible pipelines now guiding young Black scholars into the classroom to realize the tremendous potential. California desperately needs more Black educators not only as role models, but to unlock possibilities for students who will reshape our future. Now is the time to remedy the gaps that have constrained them for too long.
The sobering statistics reflect the systemic barriers in play—from perceptions that education undervalues and fails communities of color, to limited early exposure, scarce mentorship opportunities in the field, and few cultural mirrors at the front of Los Angeles classrooms. We must rectify this by proactively nurturing passions and possibilities in young Black students early on, while concurrently fixing broken pipelines into the profession.
I’ve seen the transformational influence educators can have when they intimately understand the lived experiences of their students. The expectations teachers instill can alter the trajectory of a child’s life and aspirations. Yet without sufficient cultural representation among those who lead our classrooms throughout the county and state, we lose critical connections needed to empower and unlock student potential. Studies underscore this, with Black students substantially more likely to enroll in college, set ambitious goals for themselves, and explore education careers when they have Black teachers early on.
Green Dot Public Schools aim to lead by example, with over 50% of our teachers better reflecting the diversity of the students they serve. By comparison, other schools in the state of California had a substantially less diverse staff, with only 21% Latinx and 4% Black. But our diversity and inclusion efforts cannot stop there when representation still falls far short of where it needs to be.
If California aims to deliver the excellence that communities deserve, we must construct accessible pathways guiding promising Black youth into education careers. With targeted vision and commitment, we can chip away at systemic barriers holding back top talent, while building bridges through early exposure initiatives, hands-on classroom experiences, and formal recruitment programs that provide roadmaps matching skills to critical education roles.
Role models and cultural mirrors are particularly vital. Opportunities enabling high school students to directly engage with Black principals, counselors, district administrators and classroom teachers bring possibilities to life. College pipeline partnerships providing early teaching exposures, such as Jumpstart’s AmeriCorps program, can spur passion. And “Grow Our Own” efforts by districts, education nonprofits, and teacher prep programs help formally recruit and train community members, including instructional aides already in schools, to pursue teaching credentials.
State and local leaders must expand these on-ramps now, while addressing the attrition end of the pipeline. Teacher burnout, which escalated during the pandemic, drove scores from the profession. This only tightens the diversity gap, with Black male educators especially scarce in California classrooms. Getting serious about recruiting and retaining talented Black teachers and administrators is critical so their legacies are sustained and continue to flourish for generations to come.
The pathway forward for California is abundantly clear—to proactively encourage promising Black youth statewide to envision education careers by clearing systemic barriers, providing early exposure and mentorship, and surrounding them with the leaders they can become. Their collective legacies represent our opportunity to transform what our education system looks like across Los Angeles and California as a whole. As education coordinator, I am committing to realizing this vision however I can by expanding pathways guiding young Black scholars into the classroom. Because representation matters from the start, fueling imaginations and possibilities that ripple throughout communities when unlocked.
