Recruiting and Retaining Black Male Teachers in Gifted Education

Abstract

Every school district shares the pervasive issue of having males under-represented in the teaching profession. Likewise, most have a paucity of teachers who are African American. Combining both gender and race, only 1% of teachers are Black males. In the article, we rely on scholarship regarding the lack of diversity among teachers and among males in general education to draw implications to the field of gifted education, with specific attention to recruiting and retaining Black male teachers in gifted education. We present an overview of demographic data for students and teachers by race and gender, along with recommendations for recruiting and retaining greater percentages of Black male teachers in gifted education.