TeachingInColor FINAL DIGITALPages - Flipbook - Page 29
Those two teachers made an outsized impact, Sutton
Making the Count
says, serving as role models and father figures. “If I hadn’t
While he has seen teachers who share none of the racial
tough times in middle school, I probably wouldn’t be who I
or cultural markers of their students, “be more empathetic,
am today. I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today.”
had those two Black men help me navigate through those
more compassionate and more patient” with students
Sixteen years into a teaching career he thought might
of color, Anthony Barton, the principal of PSRC Early
just be a pit stop at first, Sutton says every new class affirms
College at Robeson Community College in Lumberton,
his choice to stay in the profession.
NC, understands the benefits of students of color having a
teacher of color.
“I see versions of me,” he says. “I see the class clown.
I see the one who wants to fit in. I see the one with mom
Sometimes, he says, “Who better to know what it’s like
and dad there and you want to cut up. I also see the ones
to be raised by a Lumbee grandma than somebody who
where it’s just you and mom there and you also want to cut
has been raised by a Lumbee grandma?
up and hang with the boys.
Growing up in a county where the majority of residents
are people of color, Barton had the unique experience
“That’s where I come in. To them, I’m not only their
teacher,” Sutton says. “I come out to their games. I’m
of being taught by mostly
serving as the mentor. I’m
Native teachers. Today,
Students of color represent 52% of
North Carolina public school students, but only
about 20% of teachers are teachers of color
despite changing population
trends, Robeson County is
passing the torch. The torch
that was passed on to me, I’m
passing it on to them. A lot of
one of the few counties in
them never had a black male
the state with more than
teacher in their life and look
40 percent of its educators
at me. I’m that one that’s their
identifying as people of
teacher.”
color. At Barton’s previous
As if proof is needed,
school, students are likely to
Sutton breaks off mid-thought
be Native, Black or Hispanic,
and shifts his camera. He
and a demographically
representative teaching
staff helps to foster a sense
of community and build
belonging.
Latinx students account for 17% of the population but only
2.3% of teachers are Latinx
Asian students make up 4% of the population,
but only 0.04% of teachers are Asian
In classrooms across the
The Education Trust
state and nation, not everyone
is as fortunate.
Data analyzed by the Center for Racial Equity in
Education, showed that Latinx students account for 17
beams and points to an array
of pictures. A collage of
the lives he’s impacted one
lesson, one game, one school
year at a time.
“Those are my whys for
why I do what I do,” he says.
Collective impact
percent of the population but only 2.3 percent of the state’s
It’s a staple in many classrooms — the collage of photos
teaching force is Latinx. Asian teachers make up 0.04
filled with smiling faces in graduation robes or with medals
percent of the teaching population yet 4 percent of the
and trophies, thank you notes, invitations, cards, and group
students in grades K-12.
shots at field trips or awards days. Beneath the layers,
Other researchers have calculated that about 50
percent of North Carolina’s elementary students do not
have a teacher of color. And with current trends, this is likely
the collages speak those thousand words worth of lives
touched and chronicle the impact of an educator.
Principal Barton has a wall of emails from his former
to continue without intentional efforts to recruit and retain
students. He can swivel in his chair and see notes about his
more Black, Latinx, Native, Asian or multiracial educators.
influence. Yet the wall is just the beginning.
“Growing up, I only had, if I could count on one hand,
I had two Black teachers,” said Dalvin Sutton, a Miami
native who is now a middle school social studies teacher at
Sedgefield Middle School in Charlotte.
