New Initiative Supports Black Men in Pursuit of Teaching Careers

By Carla Davis l Alabama NewsCenter When Albert Ball was a student, what he “really needed” both inside and outside the classroom was Black male role models whom he could learn from and emulate. Now, as a teacher himself, he stands as that role model, mentoring and leading young Black students in his own classroom. “Being that confidante for young Black students is really important to me, and I can see that I make a difference every day,” said Ball, a math teacher at Liberty Middle School in Madison County and a graduate of Alabama A&M University. Black male teachers like Ball can have a huge impact on students, but they make up only a tiny percentage of today’s educators. Only 1.3 percent of U.S. public school teachers in 2020-2021 were Black men – a drop from 6.5 percent just three years earlier, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Alabama Power Foundation is partnering with several of the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to help change that trend. The foundation is funding a two-year pilot cohort aimed at increasing the number of Black male teachers in Alabama. “Our Black Male Teacher Initiative is something we’re...