Human Resource Management and Black Teachers’ Employee Experience in K-12 Urban Public Schools

<p>National teacher data indicate that publicly funded schools in the United States struggle to retain Black teachers in high-need urban areas and in comparison to other groups (Carver-Thomas & Darling Hammond, 2017). This qualitative investigation employed case study methodology. The case study focused on one school within a charter management organization (CMO), exploring interactions among Black teachers and their supervising administrators at the site and management organization levels. The study was organized around concepts articulated at the nexus of teacher retention scholarship and human resource management theory, two bodies of literature yet to be substantially integrated to understand Black teachers’ employee experiences. Sequential data analysis involving two theoretical frameworks and two processes took place. The first leverages the multiple levels of Bronfenbrenner's (2000) ecological systems theory to explore influences on the participants’ employee experiences within and without the CMO. The second applies tenets of BlackCrit, a derivation of Critical Race Theory, to the case to explore the centrality of race and antiblackness to these experiences. Among the study’s findings is that efforts to retain Black teachers are grounded in intuitive strategies and personal views as opposed to formal models and practices associated with current human resource management theory. This reliance on personal experience calls for further strengthening linkages among strategic human resource management theory and education policy, organizational leadership, and professional development training. The study’s findings also underscore the need for research that further deepens our understanding of Black teachers’ unique employment experiences in today’s schools.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD Education for Social Justice

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Learning and Teaching

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Cooper-Williams, Danielle Renee

• Education HRM
• Black Teacher Retention
• Educational Leadership
• Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration
• Human Resources Management
• Urban Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/1083

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-2095