From Miseducation to Self-Education: Countering Missing Narratives with Rich History and High Expectations
by Dr. Trinity Davis
My journey toward becoming an educator began in my fourth grade at a predominantly white school in Kansas. That time was impactful for me because, for the first time, I noticed the physical differences between my friends and classmates. I could see their hair and skin were different from mine, and I realized that I was the only Black student in my class. One day during a social studies lesson the chasm between us grew deeper. I read ahead in our text so I would be prepared if called upon by my teacher to read aloud and came across a heading titled “Blacks in America.” I felt excited that we were (finally!) going to discuss race. That day I was not chosen as a reader, but I vividly remember what another classmate read: “Black people were slaves; they could not read or write.” The feeling of embarrassment is one that I will always remember. We closed our books and moved to the next subject, but those words remained and hung heavily in the air. My feelings of defeat were magnified as classmates taunted me with words from our textbook, calling me a slave and saying that I could not read or write. This negative interaction motivated me to learn more about my history. The question for me was, what happened between slavery and today? The answer was not found in my social studies book, so my curiosity sent me to the school and public libraries to find supplemental literature about Black history.
Self-Education
As I matured over the years, I wanted to grow my understanding of Black America through a historical lens. So I developed a systematic approach in educating myself: receive information, conduct interviews, and read more. The first tactic, receive information, typically began with facts received from my teachers, which, more often than not, excluded the contributions of or commentary on the impact to Black Americans. This led me to ask questions and interview family members about events. Finally, I would search for books and other supplements to help extend my knowledge.
My self-education experiences led me to a better understanding of Black history and my eventual occupation as an educator. One example of self-education began with a lesson about voting laws where we learned about the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which led to women’s right to vote, but not about the impact (or lack thereof) for women of color. At the surface level, the perception of this lesson was that all races were able to vote in 1920, but I knew enough to know that this couldn’t be true. My grandmother, who was born in 1921, was the perfect person to interview. An amazing storyteller, Grandma shifted into accounts of the fear she felt when my grandfather voted. Praying for his safety in times of voting discrimination was her explicit memory. Her vivid reflections led me to the library to research the voting laws. Learning about the many strategies developed to deny the votes of Black citizens was disheartening — and overwhelming. This research prompted me to read “The Shaping of Black America,” by Lerone Bennett, and “Black Reconstruction in America,” by W.E.B. Dubois. To add, the simple classroom lesson about Dr. Martin Luther King and the integration of public schools, led me to more complex, emotional discussions with my grandmother, aunt, and uncle. My aunt and uncle attended integrated schools: many of their best Black teachers were left without jobs after desegregation; neighborhood school buildings that had been places of community pride were abandoned; Black students were often few and far between in their new classrooms. These experiences led to feelings of inferiority for my aunt and uncle.
My discussion with my family guided me toward reading “The Miseducation of the Negro,” by Carter G. Woodson, in which his words from 1933 resonated with me in 1990: “To educate the Negro we must find out exactly what his background is, what he is today, what his possibilities are, and how to make him a better individual of the kind that he is. Instead of cramming the Negros mind with what others have shown that they can do, we should develop the latent powers that he may perform in society a part of which others are not capable.” I learned more about our history through the process of self-education, continuing to seek knowledge through independent study. I eventually realized that my quest for more knowledge was about more than me and being an educator was in my future.
Erasing the Miseducation and Expanding the Self-Education into the Curriculum
I accepted my first teaching job in 1997, in which I decided to teach first grade because I realized the foundational literacy skills are most important for children. Surprisingly, race was a constant topic. The explicit question from one white student was, “How did Black people get to America from Africa?” This was my chance to bring my self-education into the curriculum. During the semester, my students were engaged. The semester ended with a play in which they would represent a historical figure of their choice at the end of the year. Students researched, memorized speeches, and performed in front of a packed audience. After the play, I remember parents expressing their appreciation for teaching beyond slavery.
Later that year, I learned about the achievement gap in education. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress found a 26-point gap in reading achievement between Black and White fourth graders. These findings alarmed me because, in my experience as a teacher, more than 80% of my Black first-grade students were reading on grade level. Seven years later, through the encouragement of my principal and fellow teachers, I became a literacy coach at a predominately Black school in Kansas City to help eliminate this problem. After leaving the classroom, I clearly understood the reason for the achievement gap: low expectations for Black students and a lack of cultural connections in the classroom. My next level of impact was to instruct at the university level and focus on cultural connections, literacy, and high expectations for all students with pre-service teachers. As an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Pittsburg State University for eight years, I found that there was a lingering issue; the lack of Black students aspiring to become teachers. According to data reflected in the 2012 Kansas Licensed Personnel Report, 97% of teachers in Kansas were White, and only 2% Black.
My work in navigating educational strategies that would impact students and teachers to close the racial achievement gaps led me to Kansas City Public Schools, where I was the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum. I focused on creating a culturally relevant curriculum to increase student achievement and close the racial achievement gap. Even with the improvements to curriculum and professional development, the student achievement gaps remained an issue. Recruiting and retaining quality teachers was a barrier in the district, but even more so in the schools serving predominately Black children. Gershenson’s 2016 study on teacher expectations and student educational attainment found Black teachers’ expectations for Black students were 30–40% higher than non-Black teachers. This research helps me to determine the need for more Black teachers in our lowest-performing schools in Kansas City Public Schools, where 60% of the students were Black compared to 20% of the teachers. But this is not limited to my district — it is a national issue, in which 2% of teachers are Black men and 5% are Black women, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
These jarring statistics led me to seek and create a solution for increasing the number of Black teachers in public education in a program model to develop and retain teachers. In July 2020, I founded Teachers Like Me, a non-profit organization dedicated to recruiting, developing, and retaining Black teachers in Kansas City. A 2019 report by the Education Trust found that teachers of color were leaving the profession at higher rates than white teachers. They also reported feeling undervalued, unwelcomed, financially strained, and in need of more support through mentoring. To address those issues, Teachers Like Me will provide signing bonuses, relocation fees, retention stipends, affordable housing, mentoring, and instructional support. Teachers in the program will receive extensive professional development to deliver a culturally responsive curriculum and increase student achievement. All of this will take place while teachers are living and participating in the community in which they serve.
It has taken me 24 years to find solutions for dismantling systems of oppression through experiences and research. I realized the educational institutions need more teachers like me — Black, effective, and with high expectations. We now know that Black students are more likely to go to college when they have had at least two Black teachers; we know that Black teachers have higher expectations of Black students, and we know that teachers of color are leaving the profession. At the same time, the achievement gap from the 1990s still exists in 2021. We should all feel a sense of urgency to increase opportunities for all students. This begins with appreciating the history that came before us to make life better for everyone in the future.
Trinity Davis is the president and founder of Teachers Like Me, an organization dedicated to recruiting, developing, and retaining Black teachers in public education. Navigating many systems to best disrupt the inequalities in education for 24 years, Dr. Davis served as a classroom teacher, literacy coach, associate Professor, and assistant Superintendent. Knowing a majority of classroom teachers were white and female, Trinity worked to recruit Black teachers which resulted in an article in the Advocate, Recruiting Minority Teachers: Benefitting all students (2010). She led a charge to bring students of color to the College of Education to learn about the importance of being classroom teachers. She founded the Urban Suburban Experience (USE) minor to expose white teachers from rural areas to large districts at Pittsburg State University. Her major goal has always been to diversify the teacher workforce.
