HISTORY AND VISION
Context
Research has repeatedly established that teachers of Color are foundational to the academic engagement and success of students of color. Even so, while students of Color make up over half of the national public school student population, teachers of Color comprise just 21% of teachers (just a 5% increase over the last decade). Teachers of Color also leave the field faster and more frequently than their white counterparts (16% v. 20%) . Despite an increased focus on recruitment and retention, research has illuminated that teachers of Color are often neglected in their teacher preparation and professional development, racialized professionally, and overlooked for leadership roles in schools. These factors all serve as barriers in their retention and professional growth.
Who we Are
ITOC is on-going critical professional development space designed to support wellbeing, strengthen racial literacy, and cultivate the racial justice leadership capacities of teachers of Color who work in K-12 public schools that serve students of Color. A unique collaboration between the disciplines of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Ethnic Studies, this national conference rigorously selects and supports approximately 150 ITOC Fellows each year.
ITOC Story
After facilitating a workshop for teachers of Color at a social justice teacher conference in 2010 with standing room only, we realized there was an incredible need of a space for teachers of Color to process their racialized experiences and engage in culturally sustaining professional development- and a two hour workshop was not enough. Teachers of Color who are committed to racial justice need a place to process racial harm, strengthen their praxis, and realize their potential as racial justice leaders in schools serving communities of Color. We decided that by bridging our interdisciplinary expertise, we could develop cutting-edge professional development to support the growth of teacher leaders of Color through critical race frameworks. For over a decade, we have cultivated a community of critical educators who can better navigate the racialized context of urban schools and lead efforts towards racial justice.
Mission
We serve educators with who demonstrate capacity for racial justice leadership in public schools. Using critical race frameworks, ITOC is intended as a community building, professional development space for teachers of Color to explore the racial climate of their schools and its impact on their students, communities, and themselves, receive leadership training to navigate these realities, and strategize how to create racially transformative classrooms and schools.
Approach
There are four key approaches we take to supporting the growth and success of teachers of Color:
Research has repeatedly established that teachers of Color are foundational to the academic engagement and success of students of color. Even so, while students of Color make up over half of the national public school student population, teachers of Color comprise just 21% of teachers (just a 5% increase over the last decade). Teachers of Color also leave the field faster and more frequently than their white counterparts (16% v. 20%) . Despite an increased focus on recruitment and retention, research has illuminated that teachers of Color are often neglected in their teacher preparation and professional development, racialized professionally, and overlooked for leadership roles in schools. These factors all serve as barriers in their retention and professional growth.
Who we Are
ITOC is on-going critical professional development space designed to support wellbeing, strengthen racial literacy, and cultivate the racial justice leadership capacities of teachers of Color who work in K-12 public schools that serve students of Color. A unique collaboration between the disciplines of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Ethnic Studies, this national conference rigorously selects and supports approximately 150 ITOC Fellows each year.
ITOC Story
After facilitating a workshop for teachers of Color at a social justice teacher conference in 2010 with standing room only, we realized there was an incredible need of a space for teachers of Color to process their racialized experiences and engage in culturally sustaining professional development- and a two hour workshop was not enough. Teachers of Color who are committed to racial justice need a place to process racial harm, strengthen their praxis, and realize their potential as racial justice leaders in schools serving communities of Color. We decided that by bridging our interdisciplinary expertise, we could develop cutting-edge professional development to support the growth of teacher leaders of Color through critical race frameworks. For over a decade, we have cultivated a community of critical educators who can better navigate the racialized context of urban schools and lead efforts towards racial justice.
Mission
We serve educators with who demonstrate capacity for racial justice leadership in public schools. Using critical race frameworks, ITOC is intended as a community building, professional development space for teachers of Color to explore the racial climate of their schools and its impact on their students, communities, and themselves, receive leadership training to navigate these realities, and strategize how to create racially transformative classrooms and schools.
Approach
There are four key approaches we take to supporting the growth and success of teachers of Color:
- Strengthening Racial Literacy: Racial literacy is the knowledge and skill to identify and challenge racism embedded in the structures and policies of our institutions. If we start from the understanding that schools are racially inequitable, and maintain inequity through the legacies of historical and current structural racism, then it becomes clear that teachers must have the literacy to read racism. ITOC works with educators who already operate from an asset framing of communities of Color and can articulate structural oppression to strengthen their analysis of racial harm in intersectional ways.
- Community Building: A key contributor of justice-oriented teacher of Color attrition is the racial and ideological isolation they face as politicized and racially minoritized educators. The change they seek to make is far more effective when facilitated through collective action. ITOC is explicitly dedicated to build community through intimate workshop and working group spaces, a femtorship/mentorship program, and models of classroom based, family engaged, and teacher peer-relationship building.
- Racial Justice Leadership Development: ITOC fellows are committed to advancing racial justice within schools and their surrounding communities, and are selected for their potential and interest in serving as change agents. Because teachers of Color are underrepresented in school administration and are often overlooked for formal leadership roles, they come to ITOC seeking explicit mentoring related to organizational change. A strand of ITOC is focused on school-based or community change, such as teacher organizing, shifting racial climate, cultivating a restorative justice program, or developing school or district-wide Ethnic Studies programs. We also provide explicit workshops sharing models of youth-led transformation.
- Health and Wellness: There is a physical, emotional, and psycho-social toll that can come with working in and trying to change school systems fraught with racial inequity (Smith, 2007; 2014). In a profession with high rates of turnover, attending to the needs of the holistic needs of teachers of Color can improve their sustainability and success, as well as that of their students. In addition to providing balanced, healthy meals in our convening spaces, and providing safe spaces for reflection and support, ITOC offers workshops on healing & self-care, meditation & yoga, non-violent communication, and restorative approaches to conflict that are intended to support the social-emotional and physical health of teachers and their students.
ITOC Fellows 2011-2020
