Preparing Veteran Teachers to Differentiate Learning for Novice Male Teachers of Color

Travis J. Bristol

School districts have made large investments in professional development initiatives for teachers of color. However, the rate at which practitioners and policymakers design and implement professional development efforts to address the social context in which teachers of color work have outpaced the empirical warrants for the design features of these initiatives. Drawing on the Framework for Teacher Learning, the proposed study fills this empirical gap by examining the context and influence of a teacher ethnoracial diversity initiative in the nation�s largest school district. Employing a case-study approach, this study uses semi-structured interviews from 115 participants�veteran teachers (n=47) and novice male teachers of color (n=68)�to explore (a) how one school district trains veteran teachers to mentor and/or coach novice male teachers of color; (b) how veteran teachers make sense of the training they received from one urban school district in preparing them to mentor and/or coach novice male teachers of color; (c) how novice male teachers of color describe the role of trained veteran teachers in supporting their professional learning. This study aims to contribute to the growing body of research that investigates school district practices that impact the professional learning of novice male teachers of color.

About Travis J. Bristol

Travis J. Bristol is an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley?s Graduate School of Education. Dr. Bristol?s research is situated at the intersection of teacher policy and practice. Using qualitative methods, he explores three interrelated foci: (1) national, state, and local policies that enable and constrain teacher workplace experiences and retention; (2) district and school-based educator professional learning communities; (3) the intersection of race and gender in schools. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals as Urban Education, American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Teacher Education, Teachers College Record, and Harvard Educational Review. Dr. Bristol is currently co-editing (with Conra Gist) The Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color. In 2013, he received dissertation fellowships from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association. In 2016, Dr. Bristol received the inaugural teacher diversity research award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. In 2019, he received a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. He is a former student and teacher in New York City public schools and teacher educator with the Boston Teacher Residency program. Dr. Bristol received his A.B. from Amherst College; an M.A. from Stanford University; and a Ph.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.