Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / This individual case study is part of a larger group study examining how principals benefit from and shape professional capital to improve schools. A pressing demand on principals is not only hiring more educators of color, but also ensuring they are retaining them. Previous research tends to focus on the strategies and tools that will lead educators of color to enter the profession; however, educators of color are leaving at higher rates than their White counterparts. Using data comprised of interviews of seven educators of color and eight principals from a large, urban school district in Massachusetts, this qualitative case study explores the leadership strategies, if any, principals use to promote the retention of their educators of color in the Elody School District and why these educators of color remain in the district. My analyses, framed through a critical race theory lens, focus on the shared experiences of these educators who come from different buildings within their district. My findings are split into sections, in accordance with my research questions. First, the principals interviewed believed they employed specific strategies to retain their educators of color. These strategies included acknowledging race, breaking down racist structures that prevent their educators of color from advancing, and amplifying the voices of their educators of color ensuring, regardless of their role, they have a voice, are heard, and are supported within their staffs that consist of a majority White educators. Second, these educators of color stayed because they believed it was important their students saw educators who looked like them. They also stayed because they believed their principals valued their knowledge and experience. Centering voices that are generally understudied, this inquiry adds to the growing body of knowledge that leads to retaining educators of color. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / School districts throughout the Commonwealth have engaged in initiatives to increase educators of color. Ingersoll et al. (2019) argue that while “many believe that the small number of minority teachers is caused by a lack of recruitment or intake” they concur with Pearson and Fuglei (2019) that recruitment is not the only problem. The issue is retention. Recent studies like these shed new light on the need for additional research on factors that increase the retention of educators of color. I posit that supporting the development of critical consciousness in Educators of Color can also support their retention in school districts. The purpose of this individual study is to identify the practices that Educators of Color (EOCs) report to be supportive, increase their critical consciousness, and/ or impact their retention in the district. This study centers the experiences of Educators of Color (EOCs), and amplify their voices in order to learn about the impact of school-based and district-sponsored practices. This individual study is part of a group qualitative case study that examines the practices of district leaders, school leaders, educators, and students to foster and advance the development of critical consciousness. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / The purpose of this individual study was to address the gap in research and answer the following research question:  How do educators of color perceive the evaluation process and its impact on their professional growth and development?  It was part of a larger group case study that sought to capture the perceptions of educators of color related to racial disproportionality and its impact on the educator pipeline and schools.  As educators of color work to maintain a presence within the educational system, it is essential to study how perceived biases related to race may impact the evaluation process. This single case study attempted to capture how five administrators of color and five teachers of color employed by the Cityside Public School District perceived the evaluation process used within their district.  Additionally, a document review of union contracts was used to ascertain the evaluation process used by Cityside. The Critical Race Theory tenets of permanence of racism, counter storytelling and critique of liberalism provided a theoretical framework to analyze the responses given by each participant who participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that the majority of the participants do not believe the evaluation process has improved their growth and development.  Other findings revealed that the racial identity and the level of cultural competency of the evaluator impacted whether or not participants believed their race was a factor in how they were evaluated. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / This qualitative case study explored how educators of color experienced recruitment and hiring practices in the Cityside Public School District (pseudonym). It was part of a larger group case study that sought to capture the perceptions of educators of color related to racial disproportionality and its impact on the educator pipeline and schools. Two research questions guided this individual study: (1) How do Cityside educators of color experience Cityside’s recruitment and/or hiring processes? (2) What practices and policies might Cityside school and district level leaders utilize to increase the number of educators of color recruited and hired? Data for this study were collected from semi-structured interviews with nine Cityside faculty of color and with six Cityside administrators (of different races), as well as from a document review. Analysis of these data through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) revealed study participants’ perception that implicit racial bias had the potential to negatively impact Cityside's hiring of educators of color. Additionally, leveraging social networks as an essential recruitment strategy to increase the presence of educators of color, and the benefits of hiring committees with a racially diverse membership, emerged as key findings. Finally, this study illuminated counter narratives that powerfully captured instances of microaggressions and perceived racism experienced by Cityside educators of color. Recommendations include requiring professional development with an anti-bias focus for all hiring committee participants, increasing the utilization of social networks to enhance recruitment efforts, ensuring a racially diverse composition of hiring committees, and actively seeking the counter narratives of Cityside educators of color. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceived motivators contributing African American educators' decision to migrate from a suburban school district to an urban school district. The case study approach was used in an effort to capture the participants' voices and the motivators contributing to their decision to migrate to an urban school district after working as an educator in a suburban school district. The findings from this study will contribute to the existing body of literature by providing national policy makers, state policy makers, local school leaders and school district personnel information to create national, state, and local policy initiatives regarding African American educator personnel. The seven informants in this study were members of a large metropolitan area in the state of Texas and the suburban school districts bordering that metropolitan area. Since the enactment of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (2001), the achievement gap has been discussed and studied. However, few studies have investigated African American educator migration from suburban school districts to urban school districts and the strategies used by African American educators to close the achievement gap for African American students who attend those suburban schools left void of African American educators. The interpretational analysis process selected was based on Glaser and Strauss' constant comparative approach to analysis. The constant comparative data analysis generated five major themes of the motivators contributing to African American educator migration: (1) educators migrated to become social change agents, (2) educators migrated for growth opportunities, (3) educators migrated for financial increases, (4) educators migrated due to workplace relationships, and (5) educators migrated due to their perceptions and experiences in their suburban school district. My findings, based on the context of these seven African American educators, suggest that while the school district as an institution is not responsible or accountable for the African American educators migration, it can provide systems of support and initiatives for African America educators to assist them in overcoming the motivators inside of the school walls that contribute to their decision to leave.