Students in American K-12 schools are increasingly diverse. But that diversity is often missing in the teachers at the front of classrooms.

That’s especially true when it comes to the number of teachers who are Black men: the group makes up only 1.3 percent of American school teachers, according to a widely cited federal survey of the 2020-2021 school year.

Why are there so few Black men in the teaching profession?

To begin to answer this question, EdSurge recently spoke with Sharif El-Mekki, CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, a prominent teacher pipeline that pushes for greater educator diversity in public schools, and Meheret Woldeyohannes, the director of external affairs for that organization. The conversation took place in front of a live audience during the ISTE Live 23 conference in Philadelphia. (EdSurge is an independent newsroom that shares a parent organization with ISTE. Learn more about EdSurge ethics and policies here and supporters here.)

Here are the highlights, edited for length and clarity.

EdSurge: I'm always curious how people conceptualize what they're doing. So, if I were to sidle up to you somewhere and say, ‘Hey, Sharif, you look like an interesting person. What is it you do, precisely?’ What would you say?

Sharif El-Mekki: What I would say is that we're reengineering and rebuilding a Black teacher pipeline. And so a lot of times people think of it as something new or something that they're starting. But there was a pathway to the classroom for Black educators and other diverse educators. And that was undermined in a lot of different ways, historically, as well as a lot of contemporary challenges. So I would say we're rebuilding the Black teacher pipeline.

Read the full article about educator diversity by Daniel Mollenkamp at EdSurge.