Examining the Racial Policy Entanglements of Teachers of Color

This chapter examines the policy discourse of teachers of color. The authors situate their examination around the burgeoning concerns within and outside of schools for diversifying the teaching profession. While the widespread excitement for teacher diversity provides some glimpse of optimism, a closer deconstruction of this context reveals how competing interests imbue the policy discourse on teachers of color. Furthermore, the authors argue that explicit and subtle forms of discursive, material, and political power inform the policy discourse for teachers of color.

Keywords: teachers of color; ideology; interest convergence; neoliberalism; populational reasoning; “race” and teacher education policy