Darnell Hamilton, a teacher at Golda Meir High School in Milwaukee.
A recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum studied the barriers to building a more diverse teacher workforce.
The report outlined challenges at every level of the teacher preparation pipeline, including: a higher education system that favors white, wealthy students; teacher certification tests that disproportionately screen out Black and brown people and school environments where teachers of color are “pigeonholed” as disciplinarians.
These factors and more contribute to a Wisconsin teacher workforce that is 95% white.
WUWM hosted a roundtable conversation with four diverse Milwaukee educators to talk about their experiences. Two of the educators participated in focus groups for the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s research.