Abstract
ABSTRACT
Although teachers of color (TOC) are often assumed to be better suited
to serve students of color, little is known about how TOC navigate to
such settings and what motivates them to stay. In this exploratory
study, TOC in Los Angeles County high schools were interviewed about
their career pathways, identities, and sense of fit. Participants were
most driven to serve students with whom they shared compounded traits
beyond race, like having the same ethnic/cultural identities and
hometowns, and similar experiences with poverty. Additionally, TOC had
to shed their own assumptions of congruence in order to grow in the
profession.