Area Schools Face Shortage of Black Male Teachers

Will Thomas, a social studies teacher at Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High in Prince George's County, where in 2008 only 12 percent of teachers were black men. (By James A. Parcell For The Washington Post)

"I remember when he taught at Kettering Middle School, where I was principal, that he was committed to staying in the classroom," said Marian White-Hood. "He'd get mad if you kept bringing up moving into administration. He would say, 'Doc, these kids need black male teachers in the classroom, and that's where I want to be.' "

Several of Thomas's students cited race as a factor in his students' success.

"He doesn't focus on being a black male teacher, he doesn't talk about it, but it helps me," said Claudius Solomon, 15, of Upper Marlboro, a student in Thomas's government class. "Mr. Thomas is my favorite teacher because he makes learning about politics and all fun, but he's also a role model for us."

Tynita said she notices a difference in the way boys act in Thomas's class. "The black boys talk a lot more. They participate a lot more," she said. "They really interact with him a lot more than they do with the female teachers. You can tell that they relate to him."

Local school districts compete to recruit the limited supply of black male teachers, and programs across the country encourage them as early as middle school to consider majoring in education.

Several colleges offer financial incentives for black male students who major in education. One such program, Call Me Mister, started a decade ago as a collaboration between Clemson University and three private historically black schools in South Carolina: Benedict University, Claflin College and Morris College. At the time, there were only 200 black male teachers out of 20,000 educators in the state, said program executive director Roy Jones.

"There were 600 elementary schools, and so even if you take one teacher per elementary school, it would mean that 400 schools didn't have a black male," he said. "We also found that many of the teachers were concentrated in a few school districts."

Fifty black men have completed the program, and 150 more are enrolled. The effort is in 15 colleges, including similar programs at Bowie State, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Norfolk State. Longwood University in Farmville, Va., where 50 years ago segregationists closed schools rather than integrate them, is the only local college to offer Call Me Mister, Jones said.

The Maryland Board of Education has declared shortages of African American and male teachers for several years. In 2008, 4.3 percent of the state's 59,789 teachers were black men, and 17 percent were white men. In majority-black Prince George's, where African Americans were 53 percent of the teachers, 12 percent were black men.

In the District, which is also majority black, 18 percent of the 3,800 teachers are men, and 9.7 percent are white men. In Virginia, 2.6 percent of the 100,908 teachers are black males, and 16.4 percent are white men.

"We have very limited numbers of males," said Maryland State Public Schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. "If you break it down more and talk about African American males, they are even more scarce."

Prince George's has received a grant to recruit blacks into teaching math and science. The county also has programs to attract professionals into the classroom and to develop black male teachers.

"In general, many of our young men have gone away from teaching as a breadwinning career for their families," said William Hite, the Prince George's superintendent. "We have to work to make it a more worthy option."