Reimagining the STEM Education Pipeline for Teachers of Color

Increasing the presence and representation of people of Color is essential to giving more children and communities access to diverse, highly qualified, STEM educators. As Black authors, and scholars of Color, each of our careers is a reflection of that reality, with our combined 50 years as STEM educators. Throughout the United States, and in the Caribbean, we have taken on roles as mentors, guides, advisors, and leaders of STEM programs to specifically caretake how people of Color experience and navigate them. These roles have been both paid and voluntary roles, grounded in our membership in communities of Color and our commitment to diversity and equity in STEM. From this perspective, we draw upon both our expertise as well as the extant literature to collectively give voice to powerful ways that the teacher pipeline must be disrupted. We wish to not only advocate for change in the pipeline but also to impact how teachers of Color advocate for themselves.